Crazy
by Inuys-hispanicgirl
Summary: AU. Souji Okita is anything but sane. Chizuru Yukimura is anything but rebellious. Two paths intertwined & what starts as mere friendship morphs into something more...crazy. OkitaXChizuru
1. Chapter 1

_AU. OkitaXChizuru Romance._

**a/n_:_ This story has been waiting ever so patiently while I reorganize my life to make it's appearance. :) New story. Yay! Enjoy!**

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**Crazy**

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

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The sound of fists colliding against skin, grunts of pain and the scent of blood filtered through Chizuru's senses. Fear and shock held her captive, glued to the spot and rooted to the ground. She was afraid to make a movement, afraid to catch their attention.

If she were smart—or rather, could form a rational thought she would run for it. Head back towards her dorm sans personal items. Those were always replaceable. They were distracted and caught up in each other to probably not notice her if she did, but she didn't want to risk it—_couldn't_ risk it. Chizuru didn't want to be a headliner on the next day's newspaper.

The hard sound of a fist hitting an object followed by the cracking of bone made her eyes snap back to the fighting duo. Was this a normal occurrence? She wasn't sure who she was more scared of—the stranger who tried to mug her, or the stranger who was saving her.

Both were equally dangerous.

But she was lucky someone had been walking right at that every second, so she really couldn't complain. Things could have been so much more worse. Chizuru didn't even realize when or how the fight ended. Didn't realize how close the stranger who saved her was getting, didn't even register anything until she was staring up at her beautifully roughed up savior. He had blood in his smile and knuckles, his dark green eyes softening only a fraction as they looked down at her. There seemed to be sympathy in his gaze, but other than that, the edge was still in his eyes...like the adrenaline was still taking it's toll.

Yeah, he was definitely dangerous...and surprisingly, she wasn't scared anymore. In fact, she was mesmerized.

Utterly and completely, mesmerized.

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**a/n: Just a little intro. :) **


	2. Crazy is, as Crazy does

_ OkitaXChizuru Romance._

**A/n: :) Enjoy! **

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**Crazy**

**Chapter 2 : Crazy is, as Crazy does**

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Biting her lip, Chizuru couldn't help but run her fingers through her hair and then tug at the ends of it in a nervous way. She winced once or twice when she tugged too hard, stopped for a brief second, before starting the routine all over again. But what was one to do on their first day at college?

Just a few hours ago she said her good-byes to her father and twin brother before she climbed into the taxi—the one she insisted on so she wouldn't be singled out right away with her family's private driver. She didn't want to be known for her riches, she wanted to be herself—Chizuru Yukimura, student going for her Teaching Degree with an emphasis on English—another thing she also insisted on.

Her father hadn't been entirely too pleased with her choice of major, but after much arguing, he relented, with high hopes of her changing her mind. Doctors didn't raise teachers, in his mind, which was why Kaoru—her twin, was going to their father's Alumni school for his Medical Doctorate. It was another reason she decided to go a different path, being a Doctor just wasn't for her.

Now she stood waiting at the drop off zone for an ongoing of ten minutes waiting for her boyfriend, Kazama, to show up. He was the other helpful deciding factor to which her father allowed her so much more liberty than what she was normally use to. Her father knew the school was a very good one, knowing that Kazama was attending there gave him reassurance for her safety. And unspoken, reassurance that she would change her mind about her major.

Like her, Kazama came from a good family that was very good friends with hers. She had known Kazama since they were kids, and the moment she blossomed into a young woman he instantly asked her to be his. It was only natural, since they basically already knew so much about each other having grown up together. That, and she was in love with him since the moment her father introduced them. It was a dream come true to officially be his girlfriend, with practically 5 happy years of dating under their belt before he left for college a year before she did.

Chizuru was a little nervous, but very excited to be closer to him again. The last year was hard on her, since she could only see him on the holiday breaks when he would go back home. Even then, the time always seemed way too short. Now it was different. They'd be an actual couple without either of their parents, and sibling, interrupting their time.

The thought nerved her, but at the same time, she was ready for the new. She glanced back down at her watch, shuffling slightly to the side to make way for another freshman trying to wedge past all her luggage. Chizuru blushed and apologized, trying to quickly move her bag out of their way.

"Hey, hey. Manners for the lady?"

Chizuru's eyes instantly found Kazama's deep wine colored eyes and she smiled, her shoulders relaxed with comfort and relief. Kazama smiled softly at her before turning his stern gaze to the freshman who finally got by her without so much as a thank you. The freshman hesitated, unsure of what to say or do that Chizuru felt bad for him. She knew how intimidating Kazama could be—add the fact that he was an upperclassman and he was formidable.

"No, it's okay, Kazama. I was in _his_ way." Chizuru stepped forward and smiled at her peer who seemed relieved but still nervous. Kazama raised an eyebrow but didn't push it, instead, he waved off the freshman without another word to him.

"If you say so," He reached over and gently pressed a kiss to Chizuru's lips. She smiled and blushed at the public display. "It's going to be utterly fantastic to be able to freely do that." He purred softly. Chizuru wanted to agree, to say something about how much she missed him, or how upset she was with him for not showing up sooner but anything she had to say died on her lips.

Instead, she hummed pleasantly at him and he gave her a knowing look that made her blush. Swiftly, he reached down to take the majority of her bags before she picked up her remaining ones. "Let's drop these off before giving you a tour, yeah?"

Easily, she agreed. Beyond giddy to be spending time with him again. Kazama led her to her co-ed dorm, which was conveniently placed only a block and a half from the actual school and only two blocks from Kazama's Student Council apartment—unfortunately, next door to a few Frats and Sororities but nothing she had to worry about, so he said. Downtown was another few minutes away but there the majority of what she needed was right on campus.

When she reached her dorm, which was on the second floor, the room was empty but her eyes jumped to the other bed. She had requested a single dorm, but was denied because of her major. Honestly, she didn't mind if she had a roommate she was just more nervous on the kind of person her roommate would be.

Would she be a party animal? A girl who slept and brought home all kinds of guys? A mean girl? Or would they be friends? Chizuru never had a probably when it came to making friends, but she that was partly because she grew up with the majority of them back home, not to mention her brother was a force to be reckon with otherwise.

Kazama hummed softly under his breath as he set her bags on the side of her room she claimed. His eyes also went to the other side of the room, "Guess you'll have a roommate," he noted and he glanced down at her. "Is that ok? Do you want me to try and talk to someone?"

Chizuru couldn't help but smile, he was always thinking of her. "No, that's alright. They've already informed me on my roommate and I've heard that they do a great job on pairing people up based on their likes." She shrugged causally, "It'll be fine."

His eyes narrowed slightly at the empty bed but he nodded, "If you change your mind, let me know." His eyes swept over the room and his lip curled with distaste just slightly, but it vanished just as quickly. "I would offer my place...but it's against the rules for anyone other than the Student Council to be there." He extended his hand out towards her and she instantly took it, her hand cupping and molding against his like they hadn't spent any time apart. Her fingers itched to lace between his, but he wasn't one to lace fingers...ever.

Kazama was not a big fan of public display of affection, much like her father and brother, but she was use to it. It made the times when he did that much more special and the once ache she had felt was not so bad anymore. She let him lead her back out of the dorms and out onto the actual campus, she hadn't bothered to take a tour since Kazama had offered to show her around himself—but she still memorized the school map before hand.

It made her feel a little more in control...or at least prepared for it. Kazama first started out with walking her through her class schedule, taking her from one building to the next. Chizuru was glad that the majority of her classes were mostly in one building and even the ones that weren't wasn't too far from the last one. She hated thinking about the possibility of being late, ever.

After that walk through, Kazama lead her to the on campus shops starting with the student apparel shop. The shop was large and filled with both text books and all things that had the school's name, logo or mascot on it. Chizuru fought the urge to buy a t-shirt right away, but only because she knew Kazama was on schedule and she didn't want to detour him further.

As soon they left that shop, he took her to the cafe further down the campus were he did ask her if she wanted to buy a cup before they continued. She turned down the offer, but was glad he was mindful enough to ask. The next stop was the on campus cafeteria that had multiple options to eat everyday at nearly anytime of the day. If they weren't serving hot food, they had vending machines that held a whole lot of good looking items other than simple chips or candy.

Kazama explained how to use her school ID when at the cafeteria to get special offers every now and then, and that specific clubs had specific perks. Being the President of the Student Council offered him free drinks at the cafeteria for lunch time only. That and he explained to her how your Student ID card was also your monetary source to pay for lunch or anything else on campus.

Chizuru glanced down at her school ID that had been given to her the day of orientation and registration. The picture was surprisingly flattering for once, but she never realized how important the thing was until now that Kazama pointed it out. She stuffed the ID back with her Drivers license and sighed softly. There was so much to take in, but she was excited.

Kazama showed her to the library next, pointing out the different areas in the vast room. One section was devoted entirely to computer and research, another was simply tables lined up for quiet studying, the rest was shelves upon shelves of books. The library was very rustic look, even a little musky smelling from all the books. Chizuru couldn't keep the smile from her face, she could see herself spending a lot of time there.

"That concludes the tour." Kazama clasped his hands together, "Everything else is basically off campus just a short walk or bus ride away."

"Great." Chizuru sighed and leaned in toward Kazama out of habit, his body complied easily and he rested his arm around her shoulders. He was easily taller than her and her head came right to his shoulder rather comfortable. "I should probably head back to unpack now," She hoped that he would offer to help, or maybe even offer her another option, but he didn't.

Instead, he agreed with a quiet nod and began to lead her back to her dorm. Right as they passed Kazama's apartment, someone called his name and he stopped. A tall red headed, bulky male walked down the front of the lavish building that was the Student Council apartment. Chizuru knew that, similar to the Frats and Sororities, they held meetings and boarded all the members.

Kazama let go of Chizuru and stepped forward slightly to meet the other member, "Amagiri," he greeted curtly, "What's the problem?"

Amagiri nodded towards Chizuru briefly before turning his attention completely to Kazama, "Something came up and we've had to switch a few things around. I apologize for the inconvenience." His curt gaze drifted over to Chizuru and she ducked her head slightly. It wasn't her fault, but somehow she felt it was so.

As the two discussed quietly, Chizuru lifted her gaze to the houses lined up along the street. Each one had huge bold white colored Greek letters placed out front. She squinted her eyes as she tried to make out the English written words beneath them but she couldn't make them out. Noises drew her attention to the house closest to the student council apartment.

It was a Frat house, since there was a cluster of men around the front porch. They hooted, hollered and laughed loudly—not caring at all who heard them. Strangely, it brought a smile to her face and she idly wondered how it would be if she were included on such simple but fun interaction. Could they really be so bothersome?

One of the laughing guys raised his eyes and instantly found her wandering gaze. The look, even from far away, stunned Chizuru. His eyes were a vivid shade of green, like the grass back home during the best summer days—unlike anything she'd ever witnessed before. The man tipped his head to the side in a curious gesture, before his lips curved up at one corner. The look confused Chizuru and she found her eyes quickly skipping away from his.

He made her feel strangely unsettled and she couldn't be caught staring at someone else with her boyfriend a few feet away. It's not like she was attracted to the stranger—that was ridiculous, but she felt shameful for even letting her eyes wander. Besides, if the guy belonged to a Frat then he was most likely always on the prowl for fresh meat.

The thought unnerved her and she shivered slightly. It made her all the more grateful for already having Kazama. He'd protect her. He'd watch out for her. And he'd definitely keep dangerous guys like that away. Chizuru turned her attention back to Kazama and his friend, pushing the stranger right out of her mind.

"So you see. We need you to come in now." Amagiri tipped his head back and sighed softly.

Kazama nodded briefly, "Understood. I'll be right in then, thank you." Amagiri nodded once, turned towards Chizuru and repeated the action before turning and walking back into the house. Kazama sighed calmly and gave a slightly apologetic look. To Chizuru, it looked like all his other expressions but the pinch between his eyes was increased. "I apologize for this, Chizuru."

Chizuru stepped towards him and smiled, "It's okay." She reached for his hand and gave it a slight squeeze. "We were just wrapping up anyway. I can find my way back."

The hooting and laughing made Kazama press his lips together and narrow his eyes over his shoulder. He glared sternly at them before he turned back and nodded, half in thought. "I'll see you soon then," Kazama laid his hand on her shoulder and lightly brushed her loose hair back. Chizuru inched closer and stood on her tip-toes to reach his lips. Kazama bent down and complied, giving her a short and sweet kiss. Without a second glance or another word, he turned and walked to his apartment. Chizuru watched and waited until he disappeared before she moved. The laughter hadn't subsided from next door, but rather, seemed to have grown over the last couple minutes and despite her best judgement, she glanced over at them again.

And found the green eyed stranger still staring, and still smiling.

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Chizuru leaned back and sighed with complete and utter relief. "And that's that!" She grinned widely and took a small step back to admire her unpacking. The dorm room she was assigned to was fairly large, considering that there it would hold two occupants. It was roomy, even with two twin sized beds crammed in and two desks.

The side Chizuru claimed had a cork board where she put up a calendar, photos of Kazama, Kaoru and her father and a few of her old friends back home. Majority of the things she pinned were of articles about her father or teaching. She had a few quotes from a few of her favorite books and very, very few pictures of her favorite bands.

Her bed had a soft pink colored bed spread with large flowers on them, her laptop and E-reader was plugged in and set up on her desk along with a few hardcover books she brought. Her clothes and suitcases were put away nicely in the closet and she even hung a whiteboard on the back of the door—she had read that it was a good idea for roommates.

Chizuru seated herself on her bed and smiled again. She was officially a college student now. A giggle escaped her lips and she couldn't help the surge of excitement that bubbled in her. She would have to call her family soon, to let them know she was settled in. Maybe even text Kazama, hopefully get dinner with him if he was free.

A soft knock on the door broke Chizuru from her happy thoughts and a very pretty girl, just a smidge taller than her but much more curvier popped her head in and gave her a mega-watt smile. Her eyes sparkled as she shoved the door open.

"Hello!" she cheered happily and entered, "You must be Chizuru Yukimura!" The brown haired beauty chirped. She rather abruptly dropped her multiple bags and rushed over to Chizuru. She reached and grabbed her hand, her smile widening. "I'm Sen, you're roommate." Chizuru gave a wry smile that Sen seemed to easily over look.

Sen's eyes dipped and dropped over Chizuru's half of the room and her mouth dropped open slightly. "You have such cute taste," she mumbled with her ever present smile. Chizuru wondered if there was a time where she wasn't smiling, because it didn't seem possible. Sen leaned back and turned back to her side. "I'm glad your my roommate! I can tell that we're going to be awesome friends!"

At that, Chizuru couldn't help but smile back. No one had ever said something like that to her. Not that she didn't have friends, but having grown up with the majority of people in her neighborhood, it was a given to be friends. But this? This was completely different.

"I'm glad too," she finally added softly. This time she had to disagree with Kazama, having a roommate wouldn't be a pain at all. It seemed like it would be nice, definitely better than being alone. Though it was honestly too early to tell if her roommate was a good person or not, but what could Sen possibly gain by being fake right away?

No, there was something good and nice about Sen that made Chizuru feel happy she didn't ask Kazama to help her out. The survey had worked wonders by pairing her up with someone she could get along with—she only hoped it lasted.

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Chizuru smiled happily when she spotted the text book she needed and pulled it off the shelf before she shuffled over to the next section. Before she even realized it, the girl at the front register called out to her.

"We're closing in five minutes, ma'am."

Chizuru jumped slightly, a little surprised to have wasted so much time at the apparel/textbook shop. She glanced down at her cellphone and it blinked back 7 p.m. She pressed her lips together, scolding herself for not making more use of her time before she opened her text messages but found nothing from Kazama.

Her heart sank a little, but she shrugged it off. She understood he was a busy guy, but she had hoped for dinner. Now she hoped to at least get a call before the end of the day. Chizuru stuffed her phone away, grabbed the textbooks she found and headed to the front check out.

Earlier, she spent part of the day chatting with Sen while she unpacked with Sen constantly getting distracted from her packing just to tell Chizuru all about herself and then prodding Chizuru to tell her things about herself. After a few minutes, Chizuru decided that if Sen was going to ever get done unpacking, she should leave her alone.

Sen tried to convince her to stay, but Chizuru told her she had to get a few items from the shop, which wasn't necessarily a lie, but Sen understood. But before she left, Sen was incessant upon exchanging numbers—just in case, so she complied. One never knew when they'd need their roommates number.

After that, she headed down to the coffee shop first, ordered a cappuccino with a banana nut muffin, and then headed over apparel shop. There she started browsing randomly, purchasing a few shirts to showcase her school spirit before she went and started with the books.

Chizuru gently laid her items out on the countered and offered the bored looking girl an apologetic smile. Quickly the girl rang up her items, packed them away and sent Chizuru quickly on her way. It was obvious that the girl didn't enjoy her job judging from the tight lipped smile and farce sounding 'Have a good night' she offered.

Chizuru didn't even take it to heart to be offended, she did overstay her welcome—accidentally of course. She tucked her purchases close to her bag and started back towards her dorm. She checked her watch and grimaced again, how had she let herself get so caught up? The excitement of starting out as a college student was obviously the reason, but she was never one to zone out like that.

Chizuru paused and began to ruffle through her bag, remembering her idea to call Kazama to see if he was free for a late dinner. Her phone hadn't gone off once while she was out and she tried hard not to over think it, but of course, she did. She didn't even take notice to her surroundings as her mind buzzed, nor did she notice how someone was lingering too close to her. Right as her fingers found her phone at the bottom of her purse, she was pulled rather roughly into the alley closest to her by her purse as a stranger tried to take it.

Her automatic reaction when he started to pull was to hold on and her eyes widened when she looked up at a strangers harsh gleaming glare. He grinned angrily down at her and tugged harder, pulling Chizuru down to the ground and scraping her knees. She yelled out in pain before quickly pushing herself up onto her hands and knees.

"Hey-y!" Chizuru frowned and winced slightly, "He-elp! Someone!" _Is this really happening?_ She felt tears prick her eyes. It was her first day and she got mugged. The mugger paused abruptly and turned back towards her. Chizuru flinched and pushed herself quickly to her feet, she didn't like the sudden recognition in his eyes—the recognition that he wasn't finished.

Her feet felt like lead beneath her suddenly trembling body. Her mind kept screaming to turn and run but the command wasn't reaching her legs and instead her legs seemed to tangle within each other. Pain shot up her lower back and palms of her hands as she fell backwards onto her butt. Her mouth opened in a scream that seemed to strangle in her throat.

_Yeah, this is really happening. _The thought was bitter and harsh in her head. It caused an unpleasant shiver to snake it's way up her spine and a sob got stuck in her throat. She wanted to scream—needed to if she had any hopes of getting rescued. Instead, she raised her arms in front of her face, whimpered, and waited for the inevitable. How had she let this thing happen?

A cool breeze tickled the sweat that gathered on her forehead and the back of her neck, but she didn't hear his foot steps get closer. There was a grunt that made her flinch and keep her arms up. She felt an object hit her legs and she cringed, her muscles tightened with fear. Another grunt echoed towards her that sounded rather..._painful_ and Chizuru allowed herself to look up from her arms.

Her eyes widened as they landed on an unfamiliar back—broad shoulders flexed beneath a tight t-shirt. His wide stance drew her eyes indecently to his lower area and she drew her eyes back up. Dark green eyes stared down at her from over his shoulder, the striking color vibrant even in the dark light. The eyes were very familiar and Chizuru gasped softly when she remembered.

The stranger from the Frat house.

He smirked, "You okay?" he asked, tipping his head slightly.

Chizuru stared numbly at him, her voice lost but she managed to nod slowly. What was going on? Her eyes skipped over his form to the mugger who was currently pushing himself to his feet. He swayed and glared hard at the stranger who was helping her. She didn't think anyone had heard her, considering how she hadn't yelled for long.

The stranger turned his head back to the mugger and he cracked his neck—an odd gesture that had Chizuru's heart beating quickly. She was never in situations like the one she was currently in.

"Do you know what I hate the most?" her rescuer asked her mugger. "Losers like you who pick on cute innocent girls."

Chizuru blushed and pressed her hands to her cheeks as a reflex to stop the action. It wasn't like he was looking at her or noticed, but she couldn't help doing it. But who said things like that? Especially when about someone they didn't know to someone they were fighting?! She bite her lip and kept her eyes glued to them.

Who said chivalry was dead?

* * *

There was nothing like the pure rush of getting into a fist fight. Often times it was like a craving, one that satisfied more than anything else in the world could ever do. The pure adrenaline that powered his muscles and sharpened his vision gave him a purpose, gave him the feeling of just being alive.

He wasn't quite sure where it started. He could say it was when his parents died and left him an orphan. He could say it was when he started to jump from foster home to foster home during his early teens. Or that it was probably defending himself in the school yard against the jocks and whatnot.

Though honestly, he could just simply say it was always in him, because it was. And it was by chance that it turned into something he could profit from. Just as it was chance that he'd walk past the alley where he heard something that didn't sound quite right—but that was also because of his curiosity.

"You're fucking _insane, _man."

Souji Okita raised his head up lazily at the punk in front of him. With a quick grin he revealed a row of straight teeth covered in blood that made the guy flinch. Slowly, Okita raised his arm and wiped it across his mouth before he turned his head slightly to the right and spit his blood out.

His opponent grimaced, eyes glued to the glob of blood a few feet away from them. The expression on his face had Okita grinning wider, the adrenaline pumping through and fueling him. "Is that all you got?" he asked, tilting his head mockingly. He lifted his hands and waved him over. "Come on, man. I said hit me like you _mean_ it!" He gestured to the side of his face again.

The punk's face pinched with disgust, fists raised and shaking but otherwise not moving. "That's—this..." His eyes shifted from him to over his shoulder and he shook his head. "Fuck this, man. I'm out!" The man was quick to pivet away from Okita and start sprinting away. Had Okita been by himself, he would've easily followed—he wasn't one to just let the other run away like a coward.

Cowards pissed him off.

And with the adrenaline still pumping in his veins, he knew the chase would be thrilling. Subconsciously he even stepped in the direction the guy hurried off to, but his sharp gaze caught movement just out of the corner of his eye. Okita stopped and turned his head to the reason why he was in the whole situation to begin with. _Her._

Okita looked down at the girl he rescued, her large brown eyes wide and her chest rising and falling rapidly. She looked like a rabbit cornered by a fox—which seemed accurate, except he had no intention of hurting her. Despite what the multiple rumors that seemed to spring up every year, he would never hurt a female. Ever. In fact, nothing made him want to hurt the other guy more than the scared look in her eyes. It stirred something awake inside him, something protective. Something that surged through him more powerful than the adrenaline. He didn't think too much of it though.

He reached down, watching her closely and moving slowly so she wouldn't freak out. He reached for her purse and books on the ground and handed them out to her. He was shocked that she hadn't run off when the moment was right but rather had waited. He guessed she was in some form of shock, but she didn't scream or anything either.

And how odd was it that he rescued the very same girl he saw earlier that very day? Her wide brown eyes—even though they were full of fear—was still recognizable and had seized him the moment he turned his attention to them. Even from the distance they had been at, he could feel the warmth of them from the front steps of the Frat house. Her reaction to seeing him watch her amused him and he knew from that, that she was new.

Then he'd seen the Student Council president approach her and he knew that she was off-limits...but he wasn't exactly good at that sort of thing. The fact that he sent her off on her own said a thousand and one things about their relationship, at least it did to him. The girl's eyes lifted to his briefly, her warm chocolate eyes reminding him of a delicious cup of hot chocolate. Her gaze even warmed started to warm up his insides—it was a little off putting since he didn't understand it.

"You should really pay more attention to your surroundings, you know?" He furrowed his brow and gave her a stern look. He hadn't meant to start off like that, but the fact was that she could have avoided the whole thing if she were more careful. "Shit still happens within the campus."

The girl winced and nodded, "I know." She whispered softly, meekly. She ducked her head and continued to put more things into her purse. His eyes skimmed down to her text books and he couldn't help the smirk.

"English?" he asked, more to himself than at her. "Guess we'll be seeing more of each other than."

Her head whipped up again, nearly smacking him in the face but he backed up just in time to avoid it. Her eyes were wide again, wider than seemed humanly possible but it wasn't. Surprisingly, it only further made her cuter. Who did facial expressions like that nowadays? She wore everything she was feeling on her face through her eyes—he idly wondered what other expressions she could make and he quickly shook the thought.

Those thoughts were beyond inappropriate, especially now. But damn. She wasn't making it easy on him. Her eyes searched his, confused by his comment he was sure. He felt his lips tug upwards again, he wasn't normally the smiling type but he was finding himself doing it more with her than he ever had with anyone else.

Okita gestured to her text book, "Your book," he stifled the chuckle as realization dawned on her face followed by a bright red blush. "English is one of the few classes that are mixed."

"Oh. I see." She mumbled barely, her hands moving quicker to put her things together. Okita watched in utter amusement as she finally got herself all together and then pushed to her feet. His eyes noticed a dark wet patch on her right knee and he noticed the palms of her hands were bright pink as well. "Well, um, thank you and—um, I—"

Straightening his hand shot out and grabbed her from making a hasty getaway. Her eyes slowly traveled from her wrist up to his eyes—and he just about let go of her by the mere jolt her eyes caused as they trailed over him. There was something about this girl that was...different. He turned over her hand and furrowed his brow.

Briefly it didn't look too bad, but now that he stared he could see how scraped and raw her palms were. She winced slightly when his thumb brushed over a particular area and he cursed under his breath. Immediately her eyebrows raised, probably not use to such language.

He smirked, "Sorry." He dropped her hand and gestured to her knee, "Can I see your knee?"

She hesitated before she bent over and pulled up her pant leg slowly. Okita knelt down and resisted the urge to go after the douche who hurt her. He knew that she was one of the lucky ones—there were others who weren't so lucky to have someone step in, but she did get off easy. She would have wounds that would eventually heal.

He dropped her pant leg and stood up, "We should get that and your hands bandaged up."

The girl's eyes widened almost comically, "W-we?" she shook her head, "No, that's okay!"

Okita crossed his arms and gave her his best no nonsense face. What kind of girl turned down help like that? It wasn't like he was going to take advantage of her...as much as he wanted to try. "Don't be so quick to say no, you'll hurt my feelings you know."

She pressed her pretty lips together and opened her mouth to retort but he stepped towards her and she immediately shut her mouth. Her head snapped up to look at him with those ever wide eyes, but she wasn't scared.

"Besides is that anyway to thank me?" he smirked down at her, tilting his head just slightly. "Because it's not at all nice."

"I'm sorry." She quickly told him, ducking her head and shifting to put a little space between them. "I didn't mean—well, I mean I'm thankful! I am, but...you don't need to bother with it. I can take care of it."

Okita sighed and tipped his head backwards, his hand running through his hair. "Alright, yeah. Fair enough." He tipped his head back, "I mean what sane person would accept an invitation from a stranger, right?"

He watched again in amusement as she seemed to flounder with his comment and he reached out and absentmindedly brushed dirt off her face. She flushed prettily and he quickly dropped his hand, playing it off as nonchalantly as he could. _What the fuck was that?_

"I'm Souji Okita. Everyone just calls me Okita." He glanced at her hands, "I would shake your hand, but that's probably not wise." He raised his own hands to showcase the dried blood.

Her eyes traced over the blood before she tore her gaze away, "Chizuru Yukimura." She answered, giving him a small slightly forced smile. He noticed her hands twitch slightly before she gently put them in her jacket pockets. He guess they probably stung now that the adrenaline died down. Her hands were small and delicate looking, most likely not at all use to something like that.

"Chizuru, uh?" he nodded, "I'll remember that. You do best to remember my name too. You never know when it'll come in handy." Okita gave her a lop-sided grin, ones he usually reserved for girls at parties—he wasn't quite sure why he was using it now though. "Now that we know each other, you can't argue if I walk you back to your dorm, right?"

Surprisingly, Chizuru laughed. It wasn't a loud one, or even body shaking, but it was a small chuckle. "Exchanging names doesn't mean we know each other," she shook her head, "But sure. It would be...reassuring to be walked back."

Okita nodded and she told him where her dorm was located. Easily and much too quickly he led her back to her dorm—which was only about a block and a half from where she nearly got mugged. He hoped she would be okay when and if she ever got around to walking by it.

"So this is it?" he asked as Chizuru dug through her purse and pulled out her student ID to allow her entrance to the building.

She nodded, "Yeah," she hesitated, her hand on the door but she hadn't opened it yet. He watched as she fumbled around and he would've paid good money just to get an idea of what she was thinking about. "So, um, thank you for everything..."

Okita lifted his hands and backed away. "It's my civil duty to save damsel's in distress, Chizuru. Just another day." He winked and she blushed again, her eyes dipping away.

"Yeah, well, um—bye."

"Remember to tend to those wounds," he reminded her as he walked away backwards. She lifted her head and nodded. "I'll be seeing you, Chizuru."

Chizuru furrowed her brow slightly in confusion, but nodded before she swiped her card and quickly entered the building. His eyes took in the building and he smirked to himself. He knew someone in that dorm since it was a co-ed building. Not only that, but they had one confirmed class together and who knew how many others as well.

It was going to be an interesting year.

* * *

**a/n: Yay! :) Just a start, but a strong one I hope! Please, Read and Review. Love hearing them! **


	3. Bad Man

_AU. OkitaXChizuru Romance._

**A/n:Thank you, thank you, thank youuu for all the wonderful reviews so far! :) I'm so pleased! Without further ado, enjoy! _Rated Strong T for swearing._ **

* * *

**Crazy**

**Chapter 3: Bad Man**

* * *

Chizuru did something she had always told herself she wouldn't ever do—she lied. The moment she stepped into her dorm room, Sen was on her like she would imagine a worried mother would be. Sen's deep purple eyes were wide and if she wasn't mistaken her hair seemed a little out of place. She crossed over to her and brought her eyes to Chizuru's level.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her eyes searching for any tall tell signs. "You didn't answer your phone and I got worried and—" Her eyes lowered to her hands and she gasped before Chizuru could hide them from her stare. Sen reached them as softly as she could and lifted them up, her bottom lip trembled. "What? How? Are you—"

Chizuru gave her a calm smile, she had originally planned on telling her since she had no reason not to, but after seeing her reaction she didn't want to tell her. She didn't want her to feel guilty about anything or even badger her about the experience—she didn't even want to remember it much less tell it. It was bad enough that she had to see her savior, Okita again. He was just going to be a constant reminder of what happened and her lack of awareness to prevent it.

"I'm _fine_, Sen." Slowly she pulled her hands away and headed to the first aid kit she packed. The daughter of a Doctor was always prepared. Chizuru handed the kit to Sen who was quick to rifle through it. "Honestly, I just fell. It was very embarrassing, but I wasn't paying attention to the curb."

Sen's eyes widened slightly and her lips twitched, but she forced the smile away. "Oh, Chizuru! You're a klutz, aren't you?" She brought the antiseptic over and began to dab at he raw skin. She hadn't realized how much in pain she was until the whole experience had passed. The walk back to her dorm was the worst, especially for her knee. "You have to be more careful."

Chizuru winced at the pinpricks of stinging that shot up from her palms as Sen dabbed. "I know." She told her, trying not to show just how touched she was at the concern. They just met and she was already acting like they were best friends. It was almost off putting, hadn't her facial expressions seem so sincere. "I'm usually much more graceful than this...and _aware_." Sen didn't catch her implication, not that she would've known why she said it.

Sen let out a small sigh but smiled, "Good to know, also good idea with the first aid kit!" Sen put salve over her palms and then started to wrap them.

"Yeah, well, when your father is a doctor some of their habits become your own." She laughed softly and tried not to gasp at the cooling sensation on her hands. She idly wondered how the whole situation would be if she let the green eyed Okita help her. What was with him? Why was he so insistent to help her anyway?

"Wow, your dad is a doctor?" Sen whistled softly, "Guess things like this were no biggie than, huh?" Chizuru smiled and moved to roll her pant up. It was true, although it didn't happen quite often, the few times something like this happened to either her or her brother, their father was able to quickly mend. A perk, she supposed. Sen tsked softly as she bend down to put some antiseptic on her larger wound.

Chizuru dug her fingers into her knees as Sen wiped away the dried blood, which took two towelettes compared to her palms. The healing salve felt great on her knee and Sen was quick to patch it up. "There you go." She pulled back and put the items back into the kit. "No more hidden wounds, right?"

"No," Chizuru gave her a small smile, "Unless you count my pride."

Sen waved her off dismissively with a small laugh, "Oh, it's fine. So you tripped, it happens." Sen plopped herself down on her bed—her whole side of the dorm completely decorated. Bright colors, glitter, flowers and posters covered her side it almost made Chizuru feel like she didn't bring enough of her own personal items. But she was fine with what she brought, she wasn't a flashy girl like that. She liked simple. "One time, I was wearing these new pair of heels my nanny got me and, like, I was breaking them in at the mall—ha! I should've been smart about that," Sen glanced over at Chizuru and grinned, "I face planted right into the center water fountain in the food court—the food court, of all places! Right in front of my crush...god, it was horrible!"

Chizuru let out a stifled laugh and Sen grinned wider, "Sorry," Chizuru quickly apologized, blushing.

"No! It _was_ hilarious, I'm mean not at the time, but now it is! But what I'm saying is it happens to the best of us and later, you'll laugh about it! Just be thankful it wasn't in front of a large group of people!"

Chizuru laughed weakly, "Yeah," she agreed before laying down on her back. The guilt came back at having lied to her. They—or rather Sen, was trying to bond with her over something she thought they shared. But it was false and was that the best way to start a friendship? She bite her bottom lip and tried to push the negative thoughts out of her head. She did it so as to not worry her, besides, she was fine. Nothing really happened, it was a false alarm. A close one, but still, false.

So she wasn't really lying. She _did_ fall. Chizuru closed her eyes and sighed softly. First day of college and she was already lying to friends, getting mugged and making friends with obvious frat boy fighters. Her father would flip. As would Kazama.

Kazama didn't call her back, but instead texted the following day right before Chizuru's first class of the day. Her heart did that quick little dip and her stomach fluttered like it always did when he texted her. She knew how rarely he texted, so each text was always a treat.

_Sorry. Got held up yesterday—first day organization. Meet you for lunch? _

Chizuru tried to reign in her excitement, considering Sen was still in the room and she didn't want to freak her out by bouncing about in a giddy and what she was sure an idiotic way. She tapped her smart phone screen to life and slide her finger over the reply icon, quickly typing out an agreement.

Sen puckered her glossy lips in the mirror she had mounted on the back of their shared door before spinning back towards her. "You ready, Chizuru?" Her glitter eye shadow made her purple eyes pop, but it wasn't overpowering. She pouted perfectly glossy lips, "You sure I can't do your make-up?" she asked, tilting her head.

Chizuru gave her what she hoped was a convincing apologetic smile. "I'm good," She pushed herself to her feet and grabbed her backpack from the ground. "But thank you."

"You have no idea how lucky you are that you already have a boyfriend..." she pressed her hands against her flowy skirt. "I mean, there are _so_ many cute guys around here! And that's not counting all the upperclassmen!"

"I suppose so." Chizuru gave a one shoulder shrug, but despite herself her mind jumped to one particular green eyed upperclassmen. She felt the tips of her cheeks start to burn and she ducked her head, hoping Sen didn't notice.

She didn't. Instead, she preoccupied her time with double checking her messenger bag for all her supplies. "Okay, well, got everything." She turned and grinned at Chizuru, "So want to grab lunch with me?" she asked, tilting her head. "Since we're roommates, we should get to know each other more, don't ya think?"

The idea sounded great, it really did, but she already made plans with Kazama and...she didn't really want to share their time with another, as selfish as it was. Chizuru fidgeted slightly, "Um, actually, I'm having lunch with Kazama—my boyfriend and—"

Sen lifted a hand in the air, "It's okay, you don't need to explain!" She winked at her knowingly, this time Chizuru couldn't hide her blushing face. "Do we have time to grab a cup of coffee or something? We can do a quick 20 questions or something."

"We have time to pick up something and _maybe_ five questions." Chizuru slowly flexed her hands, the raw pain from the night before was only a dull ache now and very lightly pink—her father's homemade healing salve worked wonders.

Once they descended the stairs to the side door, Chizuru lifted her gaze and nearly lost her balance right behind Sen. At the end of the block stood a very familiar body, his unruly and wispy brown hair was a dead give away as was his height. She knew if he turned, she'd be met with dark green eyes. He faced the other way, one hand held a cellphone as he talked, the other held a lit cigarette.

Chizuru could feel her face start to burn again as memories of last night popped up in her head. What was he doing there? Was he waiting for her? She quickly scanned her mind for any hint or possible words she could've missed where he said he would, but he didn't. So, what then?

Sen sighed and glanced back at Chizuru who quickly regained her composure. So long as she didn't draw attention to themselves, they'd be fine, right? "Oh, god that's one is definitely an upperclassman." She tilted her head to the side.

"O-oh yeah?" Chizuru slowly started to guide Sen the other way, hoping and mentally chanting for Sen to follow. Thankfully she did. "How can you tell?"

"Oh, I would've definitely noticed someone as yummy looking as him at orientation!" Sen laughed and cast one final look over her shoulder. "Wonder why he's over here for?"

Doing her best to appear causal, she shrugged one shoulder. "He was talking on his cellphone. Maybe he's just taking a break or something?"

Sen sighed, "Yeah, or he's waiting for his girlfriend." She rolled her eyes, "The handsome ones are always taken..."

Chizuru nodded softly and, despite her best efforts, cast a glance over her shoulder. He hadn't noticed them and she felt a slight pang of guilt hit her. If he had come to see her, to check that she took care of herself and that she was doing fine, she could've just said hello and been done with it. Instead, she purposely gave him the slip and for what? He was being nice and honestly, things could be worse than having an upperclassmen be nice.

She pushed the thought aside, making it a point to herself that if she saw him later, she would at least let him know she was fine. That was it. That was all. It's not like he wants to be friends, or anything. After all, she was a freshman who obviously an easy target to get mugged and he was a rough upperclassmen frat boy—with a heart melting-panty dropping-experienced smile.

Chizuru shook her head. She wasn't helping herself out and she hoped that a cappuccino latte would be just what she needed in order to keep her head from wandering.

* * *

"Dude, fuck that shit." Okita shifted his footing and took an extra long drag from his cigarette. "Of course I didn't make her up, stupid. She's short, brunette, wide brown eyes, adorable as fucking sin and probably has bandaged hands."

"Bandaged hands?" The voice on the other line asked skeptically, "What the hell, dude?"

Okita rolled his eyes, "Heisuke-douche, pay attention."

Heisuke sighed on the other line, "Okay, seriously, unless you have a picture this is not going to work! You're seriously describing every other girl here! I live in a damn co-ed dorm!"

"Heisuke, do your freshman pledge duty and _look_." He shook his head, turning towards the building. "She has to be inside still, I haven't her come out yet."

"You know this is beyond creepy, right?" Heisuke grunted bitterly. "And how do you know you didn't miss her? Maybe she's one of those early birds or whatever..."

Okita rolled his eyes, "Well then," He took one more drag of his cigarette before flicking it to the ground. "This mission is fucked."

"Can I stop looking then?" he asked hopeful.

Okita stomped on the cigarette, "Do one more sweep. Her name is Chizuru, okay? Brunette, short, brown eyes and cute."

"I thought you said she was 'adorable' beforehand."

"Get on with it, ass. I'm losing my patience." He bit back, fingers already itching to light another cigarette. He wasn't sure why he was so antsy to see her again, but he kept convincing himself that it was only to make sure she did what she said she'd do. Despite what floated around about him, he didn't like leaving her hurt without tending to her.

He couldn't lie,he was up practically all night wondering about her. No girl had ever done that to him. Once again, he just chalked it up to leaving things unfinished. He may not seem like it, or even really admit it, but he was a gentlemen...when he needed to be.

Okita knew that he would see her, probably, somewhere on campus before class, but it wasn't like he could just talk to her through class. She didn't seem the type to want to blow off class like that, especially since she was a freshman.

"Still think this is creepy, even for you." Heisuke mumbled, snapping Okita from his thoughts.

"Fuck you." He cursed, "It's a long story that you don't need to know. Hurry up." With that, he hung up and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He glanced up at the building before glancing at the wandering students milling about. Okita huffed lightly and dragged the heels of his palm into his eyes.

_It's way too early for this._ He thought gruffly. He skipped breakfast at the frat house to get a 'start' on the day. Which meant he also skipped his morning cup of coffee, which meant he was slightly more on edge than normal. "Fuck it." He cursed, digging into his front pocket for another cigarette.

His finger easily flicked his lighter on and the smooth menthol taste of his cigarette filled him and instantly relaxed him. Okita blew out the smoke and licked his lips. He didn't normally smoke—in fact, he sort of hated the stink it gave him afterwards, but he did always carry a pack on him for those moments. If anything, he was addicted to the motions of smoking rather than smoking itself. He admitted it, he was a complicated creature of odd habits.

It was usually what women lining themselves up for a piece of him. That and, well, he was quite a catch. Plus, in the underground, he was wildly popular with a series of consecutive wins under his belt and his brutality. Not to mention he was part of one of the most popular frats on campus with a rather wild reputation as a lady's man. Mix all that up, and he was quite the 'eligible bachelor,' regardless of the trail of broken hearts behind him. That's one rumor about him he was willing to agree upon.

He was, indeed, a man whore. But was that really such a big deal? His frat brothers didn't think so and quite frankly, he didn't see a problem with it either. He was always up front and honest with everyone that came face to face with him—and he did have standards. Like no stage 5 clingers, which one would think would be obvious, but it really wasn't.

Spotting that sort of thing took talent—one that he severely lacked, especially when drunk.

Okita raised his head just as Heisuke came trotting out the side doors with no one. He instantly scowled at him and he flicked his half done smoke at the freshman. Heisuke scrunched up his face and dodged it swiftly.

"Sorry, dude." He shrugged, not looking sorry at all. "I asked around but no one knows of her. But then again, it is only the _first_ day. Give it a week, tops."

Okita scoffed and turned away, "Whatever." He kicked his backpack upwards and threw it over his shoulder, nearly smacking Heisuke in the face.

"Hey, don't get pissy with me!" he whined, falling into step next to him. "Why didn't you just get her number if you're so interested Mr. Casanova?" Heisuke gave Okita a wide smirk.

"It's a long story." He simply answered, refusing to indulge him, but damn if he wasn't itching for another smoke already. That, or to get into a fist fight. What was with him?

"Uh, yeah, _sure_ it is." Heisuke ran a hand through his choppy light brown hair and shrugged. "Still a bit creepy though..."

Okita rolled his eyes, "You know, you're awfully mouthy for a fucking freshman pledge. Do you want to be stuck on shit duty?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow in an annoyed manner.

Heisuke grimaced and lifted his hands, "Whoa-whoa! Let's not get hasty here, ok? It's a _joke_, calm your shit." He rearranged his backpack and quickened his step to keep up with Okita's long strides. "Geezus, just because all of you guys are older than me doesn't mean you can just boss me around!"

"Actually it does, dip-shit. This ain't high school anymore. Things are different now."

"Yeah, yeah." Heisuke rolled his eyes this time and stuffed his hands into his pocket. "Now you're this big bad ass—and _damn_, if the girls here aren't fucking hot as hell!" Heisuke's eyes widened and his mouth dropped slightly in awe as two sophomore girls in tight jeans and low cut shirts passed by them, giggling to each other.

Okita casually winked at the passing girls who only giggled louder and he nudged Heisuke as soon as they rounded the corner. "Come on, you dip. Don't go doing that." He scowled, "See, _this_ is the reason why we boss you around, dumbass. Not because you're a freshman pledge."

Heisuke snorted and ducked his blushing face. "Shut up!" Okita only laughed in response.

* * *

"Okay, so the line was longer than I originally thought—but don't think that means we aren't going to do 20 questions_ later_, Chizuru!" Sen raised her cup of coffee and winked at her, "I'll see ya back at the dorm!"

Chizuru lifted her own large cup in a silent agreement, slightly glad that they didn't have the time to sit and talk. She wasn't sure she was quite comfortable to lay out all there was to know about herself. She watched as Sen walked out of view before she turned towards her first class. Slowly and gingerly, she rearranged the cup so the sleeve rested against her palms before she sipped away at her latte.

With just a few sips, her eyes seemed to widen and her vision seemed to sharpen everything. The caffeine was zipping through her veins and she hummed pleasantly. She could definitely get use to _that _every morning. If there was anything she picked up from her father, it was definitely his taste for caffeinated drinks. Coffee and lattes were her vice.

Quickly, Chizuru made her way back towards the school since her class was going to start in five minutes. With her knee aching, it made moving faster a little more painful but she managed to arrive with a few minutes to spare. The classroom was large and raised, the desk at the front of the classroom was empty and she was glad the Professor wasn't in yet.

Her eyes quickly skimmed the desks that were empty as she quickly tried to determine where to sit. If she sat way up at the back, then it made it hard to hear and made it seem like she wasn't too interested. But if she sat up in the front row, it made her seem like she was aiming to be a teachers pet—right? All that left was the middle row, which was thankfully relatively empty.

The steps up toward her seat pulled at her knee in ways that had her wincing and at the last second changed from shuffling into the middle seat to the one right by the stairs. For the next couple days she needed something easily accessible, not something that would prolong her healing.

Within minutes, the classroom started to fill up and the room started to buzz with voices of upperclassmen who all—not surprisingly—too the majority of the back seats and freshman with nervous glances took the majority of the front row ones. Only a few shimmed past her to get to the middle row and she let her eyes wander.

Most of the students walked in with a friend, but a handful walked in alone and she wondered if she looked as mousy, helpless and nervous as they did. An older gentlemen finally appeared in the front of the classroom and he smiled kindly up at the now nearly full class. He raised his hands and all the buzzing stopped immediately.

"Good morning," he greeted, walking around the desk to stand in front of the class. "I'm Professor Genzaburou Inoue. You may call me Inoue and this is English—"

The Professor cut himself off and he turned his attention toward the door as a student entered the room late. Chizuru instantly felt sympathetic for whomever it was, as dozens of eyes zeroed in on whomever it was but that sympathy died instantly as her heroic brawler came into view.

He didn't seem frazzled or upset at being the center of attention or walking in late. Instead, he seemed to shine under all the attention and he grinned lazily at the professor. The girls nearby Chizuru started to whisper excitedly and the upperclassmen at the top of the class began to snicker while Chizuru felt a confusing mix of dread and excitement bubble inside her.

Professor Inoue tipped his head to the side, his smile never once faltering. "Ah, Mr. Okita, pleasure to have you here."

Okita shrugged in what Chizuru could only describe as absolute laziness. How could someone seem so unperturbed or casual? She pressed her lips together—she _had_ said she would thank him when she saw him next but she didn't think it'd be so soon and now, she wasn't sure she even _wanted_ to. There was something about him that seemed...off. Last night she didn't think much of it because, well, she wasn't thinking clearly. Adrenaline does that to people.

There was something in his eyes, but she had tried not to stare too much last night. And even though he wasn't looking at her, hadn't noticed her, she vividly remember the depth and the unknown that was in his eyes. They were so unlike any she had ever seen before...and she admitted they were sort of magnetic.

Giggling shook her from her sudden wayward thoughts and she grimaced. Of _course_ she thought his eyes were magnetic, he did save her so she was obviously trying to find something likable about him—not that it was hard to do. But he was the type to 'rescue damsels' as he had put it.

_Kazama's eyes are better._ She thought vainly, chewing on her bottom lip. But a small annoying voice in the back of her head reminded her that at least Okita's had life to them.

"You know me, Professor. I always like to keep things lively." Okita nudged him and the Professor shook his head lightly before gesturing towards the desks.

"Yes, but you should keep in mind to arrive to class on time this time around—less we want a repeat of last year?" Okita waved him off casually again. "Find a seat, Mr. Okita. Thank you."

When Okita turned towards the classroom, the buzzing grew louder and Chizuru sucked in a sharp breath. All it took was one glance exchanged between bright green eyes and her brown eyes to have her heart start sprinting. Quickly she ducked her head and hoped he hadn't seen her—as stupid as that thought was.

_Maybe he doesn't remember you_. She thought encouragingly, but a small pang of hurt zinged through her and her hand automatically grazed her injured knee. He had been standing outside her dorm, but really, he could've been waiting for _anyone._ She couldn't fool herself and say he was waiting for her—besides, she had a boyfriend and thoughts like the one she was entertaining was dangerous.

She was happy. She was in love. She was in a good place in her life. She was...

"Hey, Yukimura." His voice was deep and hushed as he whispered and they caressed her. He was like a walking billboard for all things...heart pounding.

She was in _so_ much trouble.

Okita easily slide into the open seat next to her and she tried hard to keep her eyes locked on their professor—but he seemed so far away and distant, not at all like he was just a minute ago. She strained to hear him, but she couldn't over the sound of her roaring heart. What was she going to do now?

Slowly, Okita leaned towards her and she flinched. What was he doing? He poked her arm with the eraser of his pencil, "Hey," he whispered again, a little louder. Chizuru glanced everywhere but at him. Heads whipped around—mostly female, wherever her eyes landed and she furrowed her brow. Was it just her, or was everyone staring at them? Or rather, a more accurate question would be was every female glaring at her?

Her mind was busy with her noisy thoughts that she didn't even notice when Okita placed himself right next to her desk until he tugged on the end of her ponytail and spoke again directly into her ear. "_Hey,_"

This time Chizuru didn't have a choice but to look at him since he held her by her hair—gently, but still embarrassing. In a flash, her face burned bright as she stared right into green eyes. He was crouched right next to her desk, making his face completely level with hers. His eyes this time were darker than they had been before—was he mad?

His eyebrows were slightly pinched and his lips were pulled into a slight scowl, but other than that, he didn't seem outrageous upset at her. She gave him a nervous smile and automatically tried to put a little distance between them, but immediately was reminded she couldn't. Her eyes skipped down to his hand and then up to his eyes again.

"Uh—um, hi." She whispered lamely, her face burning brighter.

Okita's scowl disappeared and was replaced with a wide smirk. So, he couldn't have been too mad or upset at her. He leaned back on his heels and slowly let his fingers sift through her ponytail—releasing his hold. The ends of her hair curled slightly as they fell to her shoulder and they felt warm against her skin.

He opened his mouth to speak when the Professor's loud voice drew their attention from the front of the room. "Mr. Okita—_please_ refrain from flirting during class. I know it's the first day, but it's still pertinent for you to pay attention." The Professor's eyes drifted over to Chizuru, as did just about everyone else's in the classroom, and she held the urge to hide her mortified face into her arms or to even dart out of the classroom. He gave her an understanding look, as if he knew without her saying anything that it wasn't her fault. "Anyway, as I was saying before..."

Okita slowly moved back to his seat, but purposely slide his desk a smidge closer to Chizuru's. Trying hard, Chizuru once again attempted to listen to what her professor was saying about their class. The girl in front of Chizuru turned towards her, gave her a quick once over and sneer before she handed her a pile of the English class syllabus.

The look confused Chizuru, but she ignored it easily before she grabbed her copy and handed the pile onto Okita. For the moment, he was behaving, but she wasn't sure what else he would do if she tried to ignore him again. He made it embarrassingly obvious that he did not care if he disturbed class.

Chizuru sighed softly, yeah. She was in a lot of trouble.

* * *

So Okita admitted that pulling on Chizuru's hair was not the most..._correct_ or effective way to get her attention. She was a freshman—one who he had no doubt was studious, especially if she was dating that prick Student Council President. But regardless, she was the type of girl who paid attention in class, even on stupid syllabus day otherwise known as the most pointless day known to man. Or, in this case, upperclassmen.

But he couldn't wait to try and talk to her when class got finished. And he'd admit it, he was getting a little pissed at her cold shoulder when he sat next to her—what had he done to deserve that kind of recognition? He saved her. He helped her. All he wanted was to check and see if she was okay. Not only that, but he was also_ late_ to class because he was looking for her. Not that he really cared or anything, but it was the whole principle of the matter.

Okita wasn't sure why he didn't just listen to Heisuke and forget it. When he'd see her, he'd see her. What _was_ the rush? He wasn't sure, really, but he did manage to convince himself that it was his civil duty to check up on her. She was a fragile little thing, really and it was obvious that the Student Council President wasn't doing his part.

Regardless, he was excited when he had entered the room and spotted her seated peacefully blended in the middle row. It was a fifty-fifty chance that she would happen to be in his class and the odds were obviously in his favor. The upperclassmen—some of his frat brothers, were located at the top and had tried to wave him towards them while a few females, some from sororities and some he wanted nothing more than to forget about were towards the front, had also tried to invite him to sit next to them with their eyes.

At least, that's what he hoped they were doing with their eyes because whatever it was they had done was just not attractive. Instead, he winked at them and gave a simple head nod to his fellow peers. He could always talk to either one later, he wasn't sure how soon he'd see Chizuru again.

He smirked as he remembered her bright red face when the Professor called him out—it was even better in daylight when he could actually see and appreciate it. It was rare to find a girl who blushed so prettily and easily as she did. It screamed innocence and it was damn attractive.

Man if he didn't feel like such a creeper for liking that sort of thing, he did now. He watched as Chizuru dutifully took her syllabus and bravely looked at him before handing him the pile. Okita felt his lips automatically tug into a smirk. She had to be some sort of gift from wherever mysterious gifts came from, because she made it took easy to tease.

He leaned over and tapped the desk to gain her attention. It was more subtle and the Professor didn't seem to notice—not that Inoue would really care. The man was pretty laid back and he'd take it out on him later during Kendo club if anything. Inoue didn't do anger.

"Sorry," He whispered to her. This time she didn't ignore him, instead, she almost instantly turned her attention to him. He resisted the urge to smile. At least she figured out that he wasn't opposed to making a fool of him or her to get his point across. He was a loud character in general, the faster she knew that the easier the rest would be.

Chizuru pursed her lips and tilted her head. Her eyes told him she was confused about his apology. Which, was a miracle that he was even saying the word, but he had no problem apologizing to girls—especially cute ones like her.

He gave her another lop-sided grin and gestured to her ponytail, "For pulling on your hair, I mean." Dawning crossed her features and she lifted a hand to the ponytail before she shrugged softly.

"Oh, uh—that's okay." She whispered, giving him a very small smile before she turned back. Her bottom lip trembled slightly and her eyes shifted uneasily, but she kept her eyes trained forward. The little jitters she was obviously feeling made him feel like the big bad wolf after red riding hood. But he didn't feel sorry about it.

His eyes glanced down at her open palms and he automatically reached over, earning him a shocked gasp from Chizuru. He hardened his gaze as he looked over her palms, they weren't as angry looking as they had been yesterday. Now they were a very dull fresh pink, nearly normal looking.

Okita slide his thumb across her palms and she winced slightly but other than that, didn't say anything. He gauged her reaction a little bit more when he added a little pressure but still it was nothing more than a wince. Then, before the Professor could call him out again, he dropped her hand and for once actually turned his attention towards the Professor.

He needed the distraction. Really, he just wanted to barrage her with questions that he knew couldn't answer during class. But how was he going to get her to join him? To talk to him? She was obviously uncomfortable and antsy around him, why, he wasn't sure. She hadn't been at the school long enough to hear all the shit about him—even so, would she really believe all that crap?

Okita glanced at her and fought the frown. Yeah, unfortunately he did think she would. And why wouldn't she? Her innocence for one thing, makes her susceptible to bullshit and her stuck up boyfriend would surely back up any false claims.

He scowled. How on earth was he going to convince her to be friends before she heard anything stupid? Is that what he wanted? To be friends? He scowled again. What was it that he wanted? He didn't even know her other than she was a freshman and her name. Did he really need much else? His gut was telling him a million and one things about her—all good. Not only that, but she could be fun even if it's just to tease her everyday.

The thought of making her face blush on a daily basis brought a smug and determined smile to his face. Before he even realized it, everyone around him started to pack up their stuff and chatter began to rise in the classroom. He swung his gaze to Chizuru who was already on her feet and patiently waiting for the flow of students to lessen.

Tucking his pen in his pocket he was quick to fold his syllabus and started to follow her. Chizuru glanced over her shoulder at him and he reached out to offer his help when a hand curled around his upper arm and pulled his attention away. Chizuru offered another small smile, her eyes darting over to whomever was pulling him back before she descended the steps.

Okita bite back the mouthful of swears that threatened to spill, only because Chizuru was still within hearing distance and because judging by the scent that was wafting towards him he could tell it was a female who pulled him back.

"Yes?" He bit out, with a forced and nonchalant look on his face.

The nameless girl didn't seem to notice, and he glanced over to see if he could see Chizuru. She was at the bottom of the steps now, her expression pinched and he remembered that she had banged up her knee the other night as well. The girl in front of him flipped her hair and two others joined her.

All three wore some Delta Sorority t-shirts that seemed two times smaller for their bodies, but they didn't look bothered at all. The girl closest to him smiled and batted her eyelashes—he was sure this type of behavior was more suitable and far more successful during a party. Right now, it was just annoying him. He glanced back towards the doors, some of his frat brothers were giving him the thumbs up for talking to the girls.

"Is she your girlfriend?" she asked, tipping her head to the side.

Okita raised an eyebrow and turned back, "Uh, sorry, what?" he shook his head slightly. She couldn't get too far, so he needed to hurry and wrap it up. The girl smiled wider and stepped closer.

"Nothing." She puffed her chest out and ran her fingers up his arm. "What are you doing in an hour?"

"Uh, yeah." He winked down at her and pulled away, "See you then." With that, he turned and practically jumped the stairs before he started to search frantically for the familiar ponytail. His sharp eyes managed to catch something that looked similar to it and he jogged in that direction.

She wasn't going to just ditch him that easily.

* * *

"Hey!"

The deep voice startled Chizuru and she hesitated, glancing over her shoulder. With wide eyes she watched as Okita caught up to her and as everyone he passed greeted him until he reached her. He huffed slightly and smirked at her.

"You actually stopped." He glanced down at her and she gaped at him slightly, more so embarrassed than anything else.

"Uh, yeah." She shrugged and started to walk again. "I figured it would be best to avoid anymore hair pulling." She mumbled.

Okita chuckled, "Probably for the best," He shifted and was quick to grab her books. Her hands easily let him do so, despite the fact that she didn't want him to. Her grip was still weak because of her palms and she inwardly cursed. "You shouldn't strain yourself." He added casually, as if he were discussing something as simple as the weather.

Chizuru pursed her lips, "I'm fine." She urged, flexing her fingers and trying hard not to wince. Okita stared down at her with a disbelieving expression that should've infuriated her, but instead it just sent warmth through her. She raised her palms upward and examined them. "I put salve on last night and will do so again until they heal completely."

"I didn't say you weren't." Okita gave her a lopsided grin and Chizuru wondered if he had any other expressions—or at least what a sincere smile looked like on his face. "Can't I just help you out?"

Yeah, he could. She suppose she didn't see a problem with that. Chizuru fidgeted slightly. She wasn't use to being fussed over like that. It did feel nice though. Kazama, although he did, only did it when it was obvious for him to do it. Kazama never offered to carry her books for her.

_Stop that._ She mentally scolded herself. _He does do a lot for you. Besides, what's this guys motive? _

"Why?" she asked, almost too quietly that she was sure he didn't hear her. She watched him closely for any signs of something...strange. After all, what kind of guy who obviously had no problem getting girls come after her? She saw the proof just a few minutes ago of just how popular he was. The glares and stares suddenly made sense.

"Do I need a reason to do some good?" he asked, an eyebrow quirking upwards and disappearing into his wispy dark brown hair. "Most people would say something nice like, oh, thank you?"

Chizuru blushed and opened her mouth to instantly apologize—of course he was just being polite. Isn't that what nice guys did? Did he have to have some secret motive to help her out? Especially since he knew what she went through? Okita tipped his head back and chuckled loudly.

"You make it way too easy, Chizuru." He nudged her gently, "I was just messing with you."

Instantly Chizuru snapped her mouth shut, "Oh." She hummed and tried hard to calm her flaming face. What was with her blushing when she was around him?

"I'm just checking up with ya is all." He glanced down at her again, dark eyes still sparkling with humor. "I also happen to think we can be good friends. You know, just in case you need more help out of a dark alley."

"Er—uh, really?" Chizuru paused and tilted her head. "You want to be...friends?" she asked a little skeptically. She wasn't sure why that surprised her so much. But she could tell just from him walking into class late that they were two different kinds of people. And other than being grateful to him for saving her and him being nice to check up on her, what else could there possibly be?

The thought wasn't a good one, but it was truthful.

"Is that so shocking?" he asked, furrowing his brow as the humor instantly died in his eyes—making them hard and almost cold.

"Sorry, it's just..." Chizuru bite her bottom lip and shrugged, glancing down at her feet. "Ok, I guess it's is shocking. I mean...we don't know each other and, well, don't get me wrong I'm thankful for what you did but I don't need you to pity me." She stopped and smiled at him. "It's nice of you to make sure I'm good. I'll forever be in your debt, but you don't have to befriend me or anything."

Okita's jaw ticked slightly and she noticed his hands grip her books so tight that his knuckles began to turn white. Her eyes skipped up to his and she once again took notice of his hard his stare was getting. The look was definitely intimidating and she felt her heart start to pound for a whole different reason. If she was unsure of him being mad at her before, she was sure he was now.

There was no doubt about it. His green eyes were sharp and held a cold rage, the kind she'd never witnessed in person. Chizuru suddenly wished she kept her mouth shut. What was wrong with being friends? She frowned and racked her brain for something to fix the situation, to wipe the building anger from him. He was better when he was joking and non-serious.

"Chizuru."

Both her and Okita turned to look at who called out to her, although she already knew. Kazama showed up beside her and wrapped a lithe arm around her shoulders. Immediately Chizuru pressed her palms face down against her jeans so he wouldn't notice. She didn't want him to ask questions or find out what happened.

He'd want details so he could make the matter much worse than it was. He'd want to make it pressing issue to the school and then he'd tell her father. That was too much. She didn't want to relive it to her roommate, nor to him, or father, or anyone other than Okita. Ever.

Okita's eyes ticked down to her hands, then up to where Kazama's arm laid on her and his eyebrows pinched slightly as his mouth tugged into a deeper scowl. Kazama raised his chin slightly in a silent greeting, both men were at equal heights with striking but equally exotic and handsome features.

But where Kazama was tall and lean, Okita was a definitely more muscled and hard. Kazama narrowed his eyes slightly and tucked Chizuru closer to his side. "Okita." He greeted curtly with a firm nod. "What's going on?"

Okita shifted his hard stare towards him, his fingers twitching when Chizuru stepped forward. "Okita was just helping me out," She gave him a smile and gently took her books back from him. "Thank you, um, for everything." Chizuru wanted nothing more than to apologize, but it was too late now.

He didn't say a word to her, or Kazama, just stared as placidly as anyone can all traces of anger disappearing. It was surprisingly worse than seeing him in a silent rage. So far, everything that she happened to notice about Okita was always...real, the placidity was not.

Kazama gently pulled Chizuru back towards him gave Okita a final sneer before he turned them both away. Chizuru hesitated slightly, feeling rude and off. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was doing something wrong and deep down she knew she was. Chizuru glanced over her shoulder, "I'll see you around, Okita." She gave him a smile and silently pleaded that he saw how apologetic she was for her thoughtless outburst. She wished she could've explained herself better.

Okita's eyes narrowed slightly before he stuffed his hand in his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and turned away from them. Chizuru frowned and let herself be pulled away by Kazama. When they put themselves a good distance, Kazama let his arm drop from hers and Chizuru was, for once, thankful that he didn't try to hold her hand. He would feel what she was trying to hide and she tightened her grip on her books, just in case.

"What were you doing over here?" she asked, trying her best to shake off her guilt. She was pleased to see him, but mostly surprised. Schedules were a big part of Kazama's routine and he wasn't normally one to deviate. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, it's just you only mentioned lunch." She gently touched his elbow before she returned it to her books.

Kazama nodded softly, "I had an opening and decided to surprise you." He glanced down at her, the faint smile pulling his lips.

Chizuru felt her tummy flutter and she smiled up at him, "I'm glad." She told him, trying to keep herself calm. "We're still on for lunch too, right?" she asked.

He nodded once again and glanced up. Kazama had walked her to her next class and she couldn't stop herself from smiling like an idiot. "Chizuru," He stepped towards her and gave her a stern look. Chizuru furrowed her brow, confused on why he was giving her the look. The look was only reserved when she did something he didn't like and it had been a long time since he'd given her that look. "That man—that Okita, I don't want you seeing him anymore. Do you understand me?"

Chizuru reeled back, shocked and slightly offended at his random request. "Why?" She asked, frowning up at him. All traces of that fluttery happy feeling she felt moments before were completely gone. "Besides he was just—"

Kazama shook his head, his features pinching as he scowled. "That guy is a _bad man_, Chizuru." He straightened, "Bad news. You don't know half the trouble he causes—troubles that I'm trying to get cleaned up around here, not to mention how horrible he is to nice girls. That good for nothing is a party animal frat boy who is constantly the bane of the Student Council's mission."

He raised his hands and gently touched her face, "Seeing him near you unsettled me, Chizuru. I don't trust him." Kazama bent down and placed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Please, promise me you won't go near him. Don't even give him the time of day. Alright?"

Chizuru was too stunned to really say anything, or to even nod in agreement. Luckily for her, he took her stunned silence as her agreeing. She was never one to disagree anyway, but everything he said didn't make sense. But what did she know? She was a freshman and she knew that he had to have some sort of reputation. The whole thing only peaked her curiosity.

What sort of trouble was Okita a part of that made him a bad man? What was Kazama trying to get rid of? And why was he the bane of the student council? Okita seemed like every bit of Frat boy that he was, probably some sort of player too what with all the girls that practically flocked to him after class, but was he really that big of a trouble maker? He didn't seem bad. Misguided, maybe, but not _bad._

Chizuru wanted to ask him about, or even ask around about him but she knew that it wouldn't be a good idea. Maybe it was just smart for her to listen to Kazama, after all, he was always looking out for her. She forced a smile and waved good bye. Her voice was still stuck somewhere inside her.

Kazama resumed his stoic composure before he left her to go to class. Chizuru stared after him and bite her bottom lip in thought. Something was off about the whole thing. Her gut told her that. How could someone who took time out to help her when she was getting _mugged_ in the night in a dark alley be bad?

He had even walked her home, tried to walk her to class, helped her with books because he knew about her hands and he even tried to be friends with her. Chizuru paused at the doorway of the classroom and frowned as she remembered his help the other night. Nothing about him seemed malicious like her mugger had been, he had been kind to her, helpful and caring for a stranger.

_How bad can he really be?_

* * *

**A/n: So glad you're all loving it so far! :) Please Read and Review, as always, love hearing what you guys think! And trust me, this story is just getting started! :D**


	4. The Underground

_ OkitaXChizuru. Romance._

**A/N: U-u-update! Sorry for the wait, but I hope it's worth it with this extra long chapter! ;) Rated _strong T_ for language and references! Enjoy! :) **

* * *

**Crazy**

**Chapter 4: The Underground**

* * *

"Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck, _fuck_!" Okita resisted the urge to kick the brick building beside him and instead dragged a rather take of his cigarette. How could he have let her get to him this badly? So she brushed him off like he was nothing, like he had done nothing for her. Sure it wasn't the normal reaction he got from girls, but he couldn't help but take it personally.

And when that smug Kazama showed his face? Oh, he was about to lose it big time. Everything he'd ever wanted to say to the prick's face was on the tip of his tongue, but that would not have done him any favors in the future. That was, if Kazama hadn't already started spewing obscurities to muck up his character first. And if she had to pick, who would she believe? Her boyfriend or the stranger?

If only she knew the truth. But it wasn't his place to say.

Okita rolled his eyes and flicked his burnt out smoke. He reached in his pocket and pulled another one out. At this rate, he was going to have to buy a whole new box and he was going to be late for his next class. He tapped the brick wall with his balled fist and pushed himself away from it.

"Fuck this shit." He stubbed the barely lit cigarette into the stone wall before turning away. He was not going to waste the rest of his day at class—the syllabus could be found online and it was all the same bullshit year after year. He wasn't going to miss anything important. Okita dug out his cellphone and punched in a number.

After a few short rings there was an answer, "Yeah?"

Okita puffed out angrily, his other hand flexing. "A week from now. Find me someone." That was all he said before he hung up and stuffed his phone in his pocket. A week was still much too far away for his liking, but it gave him the week to put in some hours training first. He'd been slacking and Saito or Hijikata wouldn't be too pleased, but at least he was taking precautions first.

Selfishly, it was just so he could burn off some anger more than being responsible. But they didn't need to know that. With another angry huff, he walked back to the Frat house. He shoved the door open without a thought, kicked his shoes off with vengeance and stalked to the open living room.

"Oi,"

Okita plopped down on the couch and didn't even spare his friend and frat brother a glance. The tall brown haired friend leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. His eyebrows furrowed down over his deep blue eyes, his lips tugging into a slight scowl.

"You got wax in your ears, Okita?" he grunted, "I'm talking to you!"

Slowly, Okita rolled his head towards his friend. "What is it, Shinpachi?" he asked in a clipped tone. He wasn't in the mood for anyone's presence. It was way too much to hope that the house would be empty—everyone's schedule was all over the place.

A smirk graced Shinpachi's face and he straightened, "Oh-ho. Someone's got you in a shit mood, uh?" he stepped towards him and Okita glared at him. Shinpachi raised his hands in mock surrender, "Chill, bro. I haven't done anything to ya."

"_What_ do you _want_?" he asked, exasperated.

"Just to point out that you're home rather early." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, "Seriously, you were just on the phone with Sanosuke not even a minute ago and now...you're here." Shinpachi lowered himself cautiously on the edge of the couch and grinned. "Who did it?"

Okita narrowed his eyes again, "No one." he mumbled, "I just need this."

Shinpachi gave him a skeptical look, "Was it Heisuke?" he asked, "Or...was it that mysterious someone who had you up early today?"

"You talk too much," Okita grumbled pushing himself to his feet. "But tell Sanosuke to make it a challenge this time."

His friend chuckled, "Yeah, that really does convince you're not pissed." He shook his head, "But I'll pass it on. This could turn into our favor."

Okita rolled his eyes, "Isn't it always in our favor?" He glanced over at Shinpachi, "You know I never fail."

Shinpachi leaned back on the couch and smirked, "All the more we should thank whoever made you so mad. I mean, without them, we'd be poor."

"You could just fucking get a job," Okita suggested, already making his way out of the room.

"Where's the fun in that?!"

"You're just lucky I'm a sure bet, Shinpachi." Okita smirked, glancing over his shoulder. "You'd be shit out of luck any other way."

Shinpachi scowled, pushing himself up to his feet to follow Okita. "The fuck does that mean, dick?" This time Okita chuckled, easily ignoring his friends annoyed feelings. At least it dampened the anger he felt, or at least, distracted him.

His friend opened his mouth to say more but was interrupted by the doorbell. Shinpachi gave Okita a confused glance and he just shrugged before gesturing to him to answer it. Shinpachi rolled his eyes but trudged to the door regardless. A soft feminine voice answered and Okita felt his ears perk up slightly.

Was it Chizuru? Had she come back? The thought seemed preposterous and way out there to be a valid option, but it was what he hoped. Once again he scolded himself mentally for letting his thoughts drift to her. He'd been perfectly fine before her and he'd certainly be so afterwards—more so after the hopefully challenging fight Sanosuke could find for him.

His eyes slide over Shinpachi's shoulder as the vague face of one of the Delta-whatever sororities that was near them, stood in the doorway. Her eyes brightened as she spotted Okita and she rather forcibly pushed her way past Shinpachi. He gave her a disgruntled look before he closed the door, "It's never for Shinpachi, eh?" he mumbled before he gestured his approval behind the girls back to Okita before leaving.

Okita let his eyes watch his friend as he walked down the narrow hallway before they dipped down to the girl. She stared up at him, expectantly and he gave her a smirk. Really, he wasn't sure what she wanted or why she was there. Was it some Sorority Fraternity business? That stuff was more suited for Sanosuke or Saito. All he did was show up to the events—he wasn't a planner.

The girl smiled up at him and her gaze became heated. "I know I said an hour," she purred softly and and suddenly Okita remembered. She was the one who propositioned him after class. Her hand slowly ran up his arm before coming to a rest at his chest. "But I really couldn't wait, I hope that's okay."

His hand slide down her side and he momentarily hesitated. This distraction would definitely last longer than joking around with his frat brothers and it definitely beat brooding with his thoughts. He leaned down and whispered, "Good call." Pulling her body to his, he led them towards the stairs.

That was the last thing they said to each other before they preoccupied each other with more mindful things.

* * *

Chizuru's thoughts involuntarily jumped back to Okita and his beyond angry expression. It was haunting her. She wanted to blame the guilt that swirled angrily in her head and was making her sick to her stomach—but she knew it was beyond that. Why couldn't she have been more nicer? More appreciative of the fact that he was being nice to her?

Her finger nails grazed her sensitive palms and she jerked out of her thoughts right as Sen opened the door to their dorm. Her gaze landed right on Chizuru and she gave her that signature smile she was getting use to. Before Chizuru could even greet Sen, she abruptly dropped her bag and skipped over to her.

"Oh my god, Chizuru!" she hopped on the bed and Chizuru adjusted herself to an upright position. "You will not believe my day! It was amazing and—" Sen wiggled her eyebrows, "I've heard you had _quite_ the day too, Miss Yukimura!"

Chizuru's eyes widened and her curiosity peaked. It was only one day so far, what could others be saying already? She bite her lip nervously, "O-oh yeah?" she asked, hoping that she didn't know the truth. Would Okita have said anything just because he was mad?

Sen nodded fervently, but didn't look angry. "Mmhm." She smiled, "I've heard you been seen coddling an upperclassman—and not just _any_ upperclassman, but one of the most dangerous and hottest on campus!"

Chizuru gave her friend a confused look—despite knowing exactly what she was talking about. _Dangerous?_ She thought. _Is he really?_ Intense, sure, but she didn't think of him as dangerous—unless you were a mugger, than yeah.

Sen nudged her knowingly, "I had no idea you knew Okita! I mean, _god_, he's practically a legend around here! Tell me, how is he? What did he say? People say that he was _all_ over you and your boyfriend got in his face after class!"

Sighing, Chizuru shook her head. Gossip was way worse in College than it had been in High School and she wasn't about to give in to it. But now that she heard what was going around, she could understand Kazama's attitude at lunch. He had been especially stern and rigid, reminding her at the end of it once again on how it would do her good to stay clear of Okita. It honestly made her feel like she was talking to her father...

"It wasn't anything like that," she shrugged nonchalantly and pushed into a full sitting position. "He was just being _polite_, saying hi and all. We have a class together and he's seated next to me." She wanted to tell her friend everything—on how he made a skeptical of himself to get her attention, about him following her after class, and how he wanted to be friends...and how she blew him off. But Kazama's words were still ringing in her head and she didn't want to disappoint him.

Sen pouted dramatically, "Really...?" She tipped her head to the side, "What I said definitely sounded better. Here I thought we'd definitely have an in with the Frats and their raging parties..." She shrugged and her pout morphed into a bright smile again. "We'll find another way in. I got my ways, but!" Sen shifted and bounced on the bed again. "Tell me about your lunch date with your boyfriend!"

Chizuru smiled, relaxing instantly. "It was nice," She fiddled with her hands wishing she felt as excited about it as Sen seemed. "Um, it was definitely new for us as a couple and he picked me up from class, we had a nice conversation before he took my to my next class." New definitely, but not as nice as she wished it could've been. Kazama had never lectured her over lunch before, that wasn't how she wanted to remember as their first lunch together at College.

"How romantic." Sen sighed, laying down on Chizuru's bed with comfort. "It must be nice to do that. It's been _way_ too long..." She dramatically pouted and rolled to her side.

Chizuru fiddled with her bed sheets, trying not to seem phased about how easily Sen made her self comfortable on her things and on her bed. "So, uh, how was your day...?" she asked. Really, she wanted to ask more about Okita. What was so legendary about him? Why was he known as dangerous? But she didn't want to raise questions or draw attention to herself.

Sen's eyes widened and she popped up to a seated position again, "Oh, _that_!" she grinned, "Oh my god, so you won't even _believe_!" Sen squirmed happily and instantly launched into a retelling of her entire day from the moment they went their separate ways. Chizuru nodded and hummed at the appropriate times, when in reality she was just trying to make sense of her quick rambling.

"And he was totally into me—would've so have continued flirting, but of course the Professor decided to start class right then." Sen rolled her eyes and giggled, "But we did exchange numbers! He's already texted me. Then there was this one other guy, who was wearing this Frat pin who was totally checking me out and he was telling me about all the parties they do! I can so see him being our hook-up in! I was even asked to pledge this year—I had debated it before enrolling, but now I'm thinking that maybe it'll be fun to do, ya know?"

Chizuru bite back the frown, but nodded regardless. If she decided to rush during Pledge week, did that mean that they would no longer be roommates? It was a bittersweet revelation—good because she'd have the room to herself, but bad because well...she liked Sen. And with the sting of unintentionally hurting Okita was still fresh on her mind. Would Sen still want to be close if she were in a Sorority? Would Chizuru even want to be around her if she were hanging out with those kinds of girls?

_It's only been one day!_ She mentally scolded herself. _You can't freak out. If she does go for it, you'll be fine. You have four more years to find more friends if this one falls through! Besides, you always have Kazama. _However, the thought wasn't as comforting as it normally would've been. She tried not to think too much about it, since she was having an off day.

"Yeah," Chizuru chirped as nonchalantly as she could. "I mean, why not?"

Sen glanced over and smiled, "We'll see. Some of those girls are pretty bitchy...I don't know if I'd want to live with them. Now if I could shack up with the Frat boys though!" She nudged Chizuru suggestively and they both shared in a laugh. The relief rolled off Chizuru's shoulders easily, at least Sen wasn't in any rush to decide quite yet and she was glad she shared the same thoughts about the Sorority girls.

The ones from her first period immediately jumped to her mind and she idly wondered if it would've been easier to accept Okita's token of friendship if she were part of a Sorority. It wouldn't have seemed as weird to her if that had been the case, but it wasn't. She pursed her lips in thought and Sen rolled off her bed.

"Well, I gotta get myself some caffeine if I wanna stay awake and alert for my work out!"

Chizuru gave her friend a baffled look, "You're going to drink coffee before working out?" she asked skeptically, scrunching her nose.

Sen laughed at her expression, "Don't knock it until you try it!" she scolded but shrugged, "After a long day of classes, I need a pick me up otherwise it doesn't matter if I'm exercising, I'll just curl up right there and nap!" This time Chizuru laughed, easily imaging what she had said. It wasn't too difficult. Sen's face lit up rather suddenly, once again reminding Chizuru just how animated she could be. "Come with me!"

Chizuru slumped slightly and kicked out her legs, "I _just_ got comfortable, Sen." She sighed and tipped her head back. "And I have to start planning and—" She trailed off when Sen reached down and started tugging her off the bed.

"No excuses, ma'am." She urged, successfully and rather easily pulling Chizuru to her feet. "It's the first day, you don't have to do squat. Besides, you owe me a speed round of 20 questions!"

"Okay, _now_ I really am busy." She joked, earning her a playful glare from Sen. "Alright, I give in...is this a prelude to how all future haggling is going to be?"

Sen looped her arm through hers and started to guide her out of the room. "Mmm, yeah, basically." She grinned unabashedly. "I call it the No nonsense tactic. We cut through all the bullshit and just do it." Chizuru opened her mouth to add to her statement, or to laugh, but they were both sidetracked.

"Uh, excuse me ladies!"

They both stopped at the head of the stairs they were about to walk down and turned to stranger. The guy was just a tad bit taller than both of them, with startling vivid turquoise eyes and short spiky hair. His expression was soft and warm—the very face of someone friendly, someone trust worthy. Chizuru felt herself relax and Sen tipped her head in question.

"Yeah?" she asked, flashing him a stunning smile that almost made Chizuru embarrassed. More so, she was slightly envious at the way she could turn on her charm instantly. That was obviously a skill she wouldn't ever learn or use.

The stranger grinned, the tips of his cheek bones turning slightly pink. "Er, um, are one of you two named Chizuru?" he asked, his forehead pinched slightly as if they already said no. Chizuru tensed slightly, her own eyebrows furrowing. His eyes instantly zeroed in on her and she felt her own face flush in reaction. The pinch on his forehead eased.

Sen nodded, not at all noticing. "Yeah, this is Chizuru." She gestured to her and Chizuru bite down on her tongue. It wasn't like she could have told Sen to lie for her, what good would that have done? It would've just raised questions, not to mention seem weird. But then, why was he looking for her? What did he want?

Slowly, she nodded in agreement. "I'm...Chizuru." she mumbled softly, trying to force her face to go neutral.

The stranger gave her a huge smile, his eyes lighting up similar to the way Sen's did when she was excited. He stepped towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders, "No shit?" he asked, his eyes skimming over her features as if to memorize her. Once again, Chizuru slowly nodded."Well damn, he _was_ right. You _are_ cute..." Chizuru felt her face grow even hotter. Who said had she was cute? Why was he touching her? And why was he looking for her? He blushed slightly and dropped his hands. "Er—uh, you know." He shrugged casually.

She opened her mouth to ask him, even hoped that Sen would do it before her, but the stranger spoke again. "Great, well, I'm Heisuke and I'll be seeing you around!" He stepped back, gave them an energetic wave and then turned away from them.

Chizuru and Sen stared after him, stunned and very confused. Sen was the first to speak up. "That was..._odd_." she mumbled, giggling. She tightened her hold on Chizuru's arm slightly and Chizuru snapped out of it.

"Yeah..." she whispered back, not sure what else to add or even think. The whole thing was beyond odd.

"Heisuke, huh?" Sen smiled and glanced back in the direction he walked towards. "Well, he's _definitely _cute himself." She nudged Chizuru. "And he did say we'd be seeing him around so...maybe you have an admirer?"

Chizuru bite her bottom lip nervously, "Hmm." Was all she managed, because she was sure Kazama would not be alright with that. And she wasn't alright with it either. How did one deal with an admirer? She pursed her lips, she honestly had no experience with anything like that. All her life she always had Kazama.

_What is going on?_

* * *

"Keep your elbows tucked—_dammit_!"

Okita straightened and ran the back of his hand across his sweaty brow. Casting a single irritated glance over to his friend and at the moment coach, Hijikata. With his deep violet gaze he simply stared back at him, his glare unwavering and authoritative—everything he hated at the moment.

Hijikata scowled, the feature that was nearly always a permanent feature on his face. "Are you done?" he asked flatly.

Taking a water bottle, he chugged a good amount and simply gave his friend a casual shrug. Hijikata's eyebrows pinched even further into his scowl, he liked to egg him on and he resisted the urge to smirk.

"Well I'm glad I'm amusing you, ass. But if you're not going to take this seriously, then I'm done wasting my time."

His gaze swung past Okita, "Saito and I are very _busy_ and don't have time with your shit." Hijikata returned his glare to him, his hand wrapping tightly around the sweat rag. Okita was sure he was going to chuck at him, but he knew that it wasn't like him to do so.

Okita turned his amused stare to Saito, like him, he was wearing loose and comfortable work out clothes. The clothes respectably clung to their sweaty bodies from training for the last couple hours. Saito's face was in that neutral expression, where it seemed like nothing about the situation was bothering him...but there was a slight hardness in his eyes that told him otherwise.

Saito was messaging the muscles in his hand with his forefinger and thumb, casually waiting for the verdict of his and Hijikata's conversation. To continue training or not. Okita gave him a smirk, "Am I wasting your time, Saito?" he asked.

He didn't stop doing his massaging, instead simply lifted his eyes to meet his. "Yes." He answered simply and caused Okita to chuckle.

"We can always call off the match." Hijikata added, tossing the rag to the chair beside him.

That instantly wiped the amused glitter from Okita's eyes. If anything, he was not a quitter and calling off the match would automatically be a forfeit on his part—they were already too far into the week. Word had already been spread, an opponent picked and date set. No, going back would tarnish everything he had built.

He glared hard at Hijikata, "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he asked curtly, tossing his water bottle towards him. Hijikata didn't flinch, instead he folded his arms across his chest and gave him a mocking smirk that had Okita's fingers twitching angrily.

"You ready to actually listen?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Ready to take this training seriously?"

Okita rolled his eyes, "You act like I don't have a series of consecutive wins under my belt..." he shifted his body back towards Saito, who was stretching his arms and basically waiting for the go ahead to start again. Out of all his Frat brothers, he was the best sparring partner to have. Saito was quick on his feet, observant and an actual challenge at times. He was just as brutal and cunning as Okita was, if not more so.

But Saito wasn't attending College for this sort of thing. This was more a hobby and he was only in it for the exercise. He didn't want to be known for the Underground—had too much at stake, just like Hijikata and just about all the others at the Frat. Hardly anyone knew that their particular Frat was very involved with the Underground, which was exactly why they were picky when it came to pledges.

Okita, on the other hand, lived for it. When he was pledged, they knew they had a wild card that could take them farther than any other brawler had before him. He wasn't sure how they _knew_ before they even saw him in training, but they did and because of his certain taste for...adrenaline, it made their Frat more involved than ever before.

The Underground was his calling and his priority. The winnings were half bad either. If he hadn't promised his sisters, he wouldn't even put too much care into his school and do the Underground full time. It was much more fulfilling than earning a degree.

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared," Hijikata picked up his thrown water bottle and set it on the chair. "That ego will be the downfall of you someday, and please for the love of all that is good, keep your damned elbows tucked!"

Okita rolled his shoulders and obediently tucked his elbows in. The perfect position. "I don't think it's my ego, I call it...confidence." He leveled Saito with a stare and gave him a small nod, the go ahead to start.

Immediately, Saito's eyes hardened again with seriousness. His shoulders squared and his elbows tucked to his side, fists clenched and raised slightly. The first move was quick and precise, a side step punch that was aimed for his mid-section. Okita shuffled his feet, his knuckles just grazing the side of his body.

"Hands up, Okita." Hijikata reprimanded, "You_ always _get sloppy when you dodge."

Okita resisted the urge to say something snide, but mostly because Saito was already coming back at him. The guy really was quick on his feet and really, a waste of potential. They could easily double their finances if he joined. Being more conscious, Okita kept his hands level and pushed back as Saito's fists came flying at him. The sound of his fists hitting his palms were such a lovely sound to his adrenaline pumped body.

"There you go," Hijikata encouraged, his face slightly pinched with concentration. "Remember, this opponent is known for his right hook and fake outs. Be prepared for that."

Hijikata—coach and all around informant on all his opponents, thanks to Sanosuke's digging and connections. His retort was right on the tip of his tongue, but Saito took the small window of opportunity to step into his blind spot, faked a right hook before he sank his left right into his abdomen. The punch was quickly followed with a knee to the same area and a right hook the side of the face. Before Saito could follow up with another left hit, Okita blocked it and was quick to put distance between them.

Hijikata shook his head, cursing under his breath and Okita wiped his mouth with the back of his shirt before spitting off to the side. There was a little bit of blood in it, but he wasn't put off by it. Instead, it fueled him—training wasn't quite the high he enjoyed, but it came pretty close.

He grinned at Saito, "Fuck you and that damn left hook of yours." He gently rolled his head and nodded at him again. "You won't get me again, douche."

Saito's lips tugged upwards slightly in a small grin. "We'll see."

The training went on for another hour and a half, with Saito and Okita trading blows to their known weaknesses while Hijikata shouted and reprimanded from the side lines. Overall, it was a good training session for the first day. A foreshadow of how the Underground season would go for the year, but he mentally wished that all his matches would be a challenge like Saito was. So far,

Hijikata handed Okita the sweat rag and he was quick to press the fluffy towel against his face. "If you keep your head in the match, you'll do good." Hijikata glanced at Saito and gave him a brief nod. "Thanks, as always, for your help Saito."

Okita grunted a mumbled thanks and took a large swig of his water. "Same time tomorrow." He told him with a wide smirk. "Won't be as easy as today."

Saito chuckled very softly before he exited the room. Hijikata glanced at his watch and grimaced slightly, "I should get going too. I have to meet Kondou and then I have a few admissions to go over." He glanced at Okita who was already packing his own items away. "You have an hour before your first class. You should hurry."

"Yeah, yeah." Okita threw his duffle bag over his shoulder and smirked, "Don't you have someone else to fuss over now?"

Hijikata smirked back, shaking his head. "Not until 9 o'clock."

The two chuckled before going their own way. It was best that no one saw them together and if they did, it was as infrequent as possible. Which was why they did early morning training. At college, most kids were dropping into bed or still sleeping when Okita woke up.

He suppressed a yawn and stretched. The cool crisp morning air felt good against his warm skin and it tingled in a familiar way. Digging into his pocket he pulled out his cellphone and switched the settings on his phone to receive messages. He always turned the alerts on his phone off when he was training—that time was dedicated to himself and who he was training with. Even if he liked to give Hijikata a hard time.

Instantly, his cellphone chimed with two unread text messages and one missed call. He opened the first missed text from Shinpachi.

_Srsly, bro! Make sure the crazy girl u sleep with is GONE before u leave! Major collateral damage. _

Okita rolled his eyes, but couldn't help the chuckle. It wasn't his problem, really, the moment they had done the deed, it was _done_. He was accomplished. And how did she not wake up when he was leaving? He made a lot of noise as he fumbled for his stuff in the dark. Honestly, he was glad he wasn't around to deal with it.

The moment he pushed them out of the front door, they would be asking for his phone number or when the next "date" would be and he'd just shut the door on them in answer. Many times, they would kick and scream at the door—demanding in all their mortified horror to have the door opened. Once or twice they barged right in because someone forgot to lock the door.

In those cases, objects would get thrown about and swears would come pouring out of the Sorority girls mouth like she were drunk and not at all embarrassed about such language. Then, one of the other guys in the house would come by and escort the pissed off girl back to the door. Giving her fake apologies and false promises of having a '_talk_' with him about his behavior before the door made it's re-acquaintance with their faces again.

Okita shook his head. Yeah, he was _really_ glad he wasn't around for all that.

He frowned slightly, as glad as he was, Okita was slightly peeved at himself. He hadn't meant to fall asleep afterwards, that wasn't what he did and it was a near fatal move on his part. If he continued to fall asleep after sex, then it gave them the idea that they were more than what they were. Okita bristled at the thought. But he couldn't help it. With his mind buzzing, sleep was the only way to silence it. He needed to be careful next time around—letting himself slip like that was dangerous.

Okita clicked through the text and opened the other one which was from Heisuke, as well as the missed phone call.

_Yo, found ur Chizuru. Rly is a cutie! WTF is she hangin' 'round u for? _

Okita stopped in his tracks. That's right. In the long scheme of things, everything was sort of upside down because of his mind racing around _her_. Because she blew him off, brushed off his token of friendship like it was some sort of trick—though in her defense it did seem odd, but really! Who rejects friendships? He felt his jaw lock with anger and he huffed out a pent up breath.

It was too early for this shit. Way, _way_ too early. But he couldn't just let this go and now that Heisuke found her...well, it was time to win her over. If anything, he was going to _prove_ himself. He'd show her that he was being honest, that he wasn't anything like what Kazama had probably said about him, and that he simply wanted to be her friend...he wasn't pitying her, or whatever else feeling was holding her back that she hadn't vocalized.

Her eyes still haunted him from when she thanked him after Kazama arrived. Like she was silently _apologizing_...for a lot of things that he didn't realize she did—or what she _thought _she did to him. It only intrigued him more about her and damned, it would be so much easier if he could just stay away from her for good. Let things settle between her and Kazama...let him focus on him, like always. It would be best for them both.

But as always, a challenge was what Okita thrived for and Chizuru was unlike any challenge he'd ever come across. He pressed the redial button on his phone and pressed it to his ear. Within three short rings, the other end picked up.

"U-uh, yeah...?" Heisuke's voice was groggy and half a sleep.

"Wake your ass up, runt. We need to chat. Get over to the Frat house, pronto."

Heisuke yawned loudly on the other end, "Is this some sort of...initiation or some shit...?" he asked, cutting off into another yawn.

"Just fucking do it, freshman." With that, he hung up and picked up his pace. Oh yes, he was coming up with a plan. One that would certainly win her over in no time.

* * *

Heisuke groaned and slowly lifted his head up from the dining table. His eyebrows pinched, "This is why I had to hurry my ass over?" he asked, lowering his head back down to the comfort of his arms. His eyelids fluttered as he closed them, sighing deeply as sleep clawed at him to return.

Okita rolled his eyes and slammed his hand down inches away from his face. Quickly Heisuke popped up, his eyes wide and startled. He glared at Okita and waved him away. "I'm up, I'm up." He mumbled, slouching against the chair.

"So tell me everything," Okita settled into the seat closest to him.

"Like what?" asked Heisuke, cutting off into a quick yawn. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and frowned. "I found her, like you said and then tried calling you." He shrugged, "Didn't know you already moved on with another slice..."

Okita narrowed his eyes, "What?" he asked.

Heisuke shrugged again, "Well, when you didn't answer...I called the others. Shinpachi answered and had said you were preoccupied with one of the chicks from the Sorority or something. I figured you didn't care anymore." He leaned forward and rested his chin in his hand. "But hey, kudos! Do you mind if I take a stab at her? I mean, she's more so in my league and man, when she blushes it's really cute in that way that screams virgin, ya know?"

Angrily, Okita smacked his arm that held up his chin and Heisuke smacked his chin into the table, his reaction time just a little behind. Heisuke wailed in pain and started to spew curses. "What the _hell_ was _that_ for?!" he yelled, rubbing his chin.

"For being a dumbass!" he retorted, glaring hard at him. "Don't you dare go near her. She's not in your league and her boyfriend will blacklist you if you try."

Heisuke gave him a skeptical look, "Boyfriend?" he asked tilting his head slightly, "You didn't say she had a boyfriend."

Okita shrugged as casually as he could, "Didn't think it was important." He didn't want to mention how he disliked the fact himself. "She's dating the Student Council president..."

Heisuke's mouth dropped open and his eyebrows pinched, "_That_ stuck up douche?" he grimaced, "But...isn't he—"

"Yeah." Okita cut him off, nodding.

"And she has no clue?"

Okita rolled his eyes, "Do you really need to ask?" he shook his head, "Besides it's none of our business. Just remember how much of a pain in the ass he already is. We don't need more of a reason for him to be sniffing around us."

Heisuke frowned but nodded, "So, tell me. If she has a boyfriend...and you're still getting yourself off with other girls, and obviously don't want anyone else to try, why the hell were you so persistent? What do you want with her?"

"It's a long story," he answered curtly and vaguely again. "But you didn't finish. Tell me what you found out."

Heisuke snorted and shook his head. He wanted nothing more than to retort with something witty or sarcastic, but he knew it wouldn't end well. Thus the life of a freshman pledge. "What's there to say?" he asked, tipping his head back and crossing his arms. "She lives on the second floor, room 4b, with another rather cute girl...um, she was surprised that I was looking for her, I guess, and—"

"Did you tell her _why_ you were looking for her?" Okita hoped that Heisuke wasn't that stupid...but really, that was up for debate.

His features pinched with annoyance and he rolled his eyes, "No, douche. I'm not that stupid," He glared and raised his middle finger at him. "Fuck _off_." He warned, earning him a wide smug smirk from Okita. "But yeah, that was all. Then I said I'd see her around...I didn't mention _you_, or _why,_ or _anything_."

Slowly, Okita nodded. Pleased with him, but not willing to say so for obvious reasons. The main one being that wasn't his M.O. He pushed out of his seat and started towards the door but Heisuke grunted with disapproval and annoyance.

"Oi, dick! Are you really not going to explain any of this creeper status shit?" he asked, half raised out of his chair and ready to follow him.

Okita smirked, "Where's the fun in that?" he asked, tipping his head. "Besides, you don't need to know the details of _anything _and the fact that you call it creepy is not helping your case." He shrugged, "There's a method to my madness, now let's get going. I'll fill you in on what you _can_ know."

Heisuke pouted in annoyance but followed along, "I would say it's a method," he mumbled, mostly to himself. "Just plain madness..." But regardless, he listened intently to what Okita did tell him. The gaps of what was going on getting bigger and more confusing for him. In Heisuke's opinion, everything that was happening was just way too complicated.

Okita leveled him with a glare, "You got all that?" he asked, shouldering his backpack.

"Yeah, yeah." He pointed at his head, "It's all up here."

"That's why I'm asking," he smirked down at him, Heisuke immediately scowled and shoved Okita.

"Asshole." He cursed, "Now, if you no longer need me here, I'm going to go nap on the couch before Shinpachi or Sanosuke wake up!" Heisuke cast Okita one more glare before leaving the room.

Glancing at his watch, Okita scowled himself. He was never one to really arrive early for class, but if his plan was going to work, then he needed to do it. He grimaced and grabbed a quick cup of coffee—skipping the sugar and creamer. He needed something to snap him into his mood, he knew this plan was going to take everything he had.

It was going to be difficult to carry it through. The taste of his coffee was bitter and sharp, but it did the job in record time. Within seconds he felt it start working in his system and he was popping gum into mouth and already out the door.

Fifteen minutes later he arrived to his classroom, barely any students were in there and the ones that were, were all underclassmen. He offered them a coy smirk he was known for and bounded up to the middle row, second seat to the aisle. The same seat as yesterday. Shrugging off his backpack, he cast one small look at the clock and then to the empty seat next to him.

Now, all he had to do was dig deep and find that patience everyone seemed to believe he didn't have.

_Game on._

* * *

Chizuru fidgeted and pinned her gaze firmly on the professor as he spoke about their most recent assignment and something about a possible quiz being soon...or something like that. She pursed her lips irritably and suppressed the sigh. Instead, she tentatively raised her Styrofoam cup and took a long sip. The caffeine was giving her a much needed jolt.

But that only really made her even more hyper aware of Okita sitting right next to her.

Chizuru wasn't going to lie, but she honestly thought that he wouldn't want anything to do with her after she blew him off. Not that he was actually paying attention, or disrupting her, or even _trying_ to make conversation with her...he was just _sitting_ next to her. Quietly. Had been sitting next to her for nearly a week now and she was getting more and more anxious as the days passed.

Why sit next to her still if he didn't even want to talk? Was he waiting for her to say something first? Because she greeted him—out of manners and secretly to get him to talk to her again—whenever she took her seat next to him, but all he did was give her a firm nod in return. Then, he'd go chat with anyone else that greeted him, aside from her.

The first day after the incident, she had thought that he had forgotten all about it when she entered the room and his face lit up. Or, rather, lit up in the way Okita could. His lips stretched into his smirk that always seemed pleased with some inside joke. Chizuru froze for only half a second, before she slowly made her way up to the seat she picked out for herself the other day, all the while trying hard not to show just how relieved and happy she was that he wasn't mad.

When she got closer, he got up and started towards her. She slowly raised a hand to greet him, but his eyes only skimmed over her briefly before he brushed past her and greeted a fellow frat brother that was a few steps behind her.

Instantly she felt her face burn with embarrassment. Her heart sank with disappointment and she wanted nothing more than to hide her face and pick another seat. But it seemed ridiculous and stupid to do so when she was literally two steps away from her seat. With rigid movements, she seated herself firmly, head held eye and her eyes trained to everything but the chatting Okita and nameless friend near her.

Chizuru had tried to appear unaffected by his brush off and once the professor entered the classroom, it made the task easier. That was, until Okita took the seat next to her. She waited for the entire class period for Okita to start saying something to her, to start and try to gain her attention, but no. It was shocking.

At first, it didn't bother her—for about a minute before her over active mind started rattling with several different things. What was with the cold shoulder? Was he really that mad? Would he forgive her if she apologized? Did she want to apologize? In the end, she came to the same conclusion multiple times, it _was_ her fault he was acting this way towards her.

She tried to apologize to him, but he usually beat her to class and he'd be preoccupied with others. After class, he'd be instantly surrounded by either his fellow frat buddies or sorority girls. During class was not an option and even if it were, she lost her nerve every time she turned her eyes to him. The words just died on her lips when he would turn and stare at her, almost expectantly, but the hardness of his eyes made her chicken out. Every time she got mad at herself for not just taking the plunge and doing it.

Chizuru wasn't even sure why she still put herself through all the trouble and didn't just choose another seat. But deep down, she knew why. She was hoping he'd one day turn to her and start distracting her. How had it all come down to her wanting that? Kazama's warning rang in her head every time she took the seat next to him, but nothing made sense about it.

When he chatted with others, she watched him secretly. He'd laugh like everyone else, he'd show his distaste just like anyone, and he cursed more often than any other person would, but it seemed normal. There was nothing about him that screamed danger, out of place, or horrible. Even that day he helped her, she got a vibe from him that he was a protector of sorts...

She frowned. For the first few days she tried to keep her ears peeled to anything and everything her fellow peers were saying about Okita. His name and the name of his Frat bounced around a lot between the freshman. But it was nothing she hadn't already heard. The Shin Frat was apparently extremely exclusive when it came to pledges and Rush week. Souji Okita was their star of the Frat, among four others. They held raging parties...etc.

During an extremely curious night, Chizuru even googled him and the Frat. All that she could find was a random fan page of the Frat and all their members—both current and past. The freshman pledges were not pictured, as pledges could either make it or be kicked out after initiation. But Okita's name was the most talked about.

Her curiosity knew no bounds and she was slightly embarrassed that she had sunk that low just to satisfy her troubled mind.

Before she realized it, the Professor ended class and she found that she zoned out for the last half hour of class. She grimaced and started to place her items into her bag. Automatically she snuck a peek at Okita and found that he wasn't already half way out the door or even surrounded with girls or friends. This was her chance, if ever she were going to take one.

Feeling braver than she had all week, she quickly shouldered her bag and crossed over to Okita. His gaze lifted from his backpack to hers. The depth of his emerald eyes took her breath away and reminded her how haunting they could be. "Uh, Okita?" she unintentionally stammered and cursed herself for not speaking clearly.

He picked up his backpack and tipped his head. His eyes were still hard and not at all welcoming. "Yeah?" he asked, letting his gaze skip over her shoulder before returning. She guessed he was in a hurry or he didn't want to talk.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, "I—uh..." She frowned. Chizuru closed her eyes and ducked her head, "I, uh...never mind." Feeling her face start to heat up she tried hard to keep her lips from wobbling and she bit her lip. With a quick glance, she noticed his eyes briefly look...disappointed? Before they hardened to their stoic gaze again.

He nodded, "Right." With that, he pushed past her and left. His hand instantly in his pocket as he dug out another cigarette. The retreating figure was so upsetting to her that she almost ran after him to try again, but she didn't. She let her feet feel like lead and keep her rooted.

When was she ever going to do what she wanted? When was she not going to let fear overrule her? Slowly and suddenly very moody, Chizuru started to walk again. Her mind was rattling again with pointless and obvious remarks on how stupid she just seemed. She was thankful that he didn't at least laugh in her face for her stupidity. But his cold look said it all.

Chizuru was still deep in thought when Sen called out to her from nearly across campus. She paused and lifted a hand to wave as she rushed over in a way that made Chizuru feel like the most ungraceful thing in the world. Her short hair bounced perfectly and not a thing was out of place as she reached her. How on earth did someone manage that?

Sen smiled widely, slightly out of breath but the flush to her face only made her that much more prettier. Chizuru wasn't blind to the way some of the guys stopped to stare at her as she rushed past them. "I'm so glad I caught you!" she bounced on her toes and cupped her hands together. "Please, please, _please_ tell me you're free tonight...?"

Chizuru was almost fearful to say she was, but there couldn't be anything to crazy going on a Tuesday night, right? Hesitantly she smiled, "Uh, I'm free...why? What's up?"

"Oh, thank goodness!" she pulled at her hands excitedly. "We got invited to the..." Sen glanced around and then lowered her voice. "To the _underground_!"

"The...underground?" Chizuru whispered back, confused. She felt her features automatically pinch. "What is that? If it's a party, I'm sorry but I really can't—"

Sen raised a hand, "No! It's not...It's um, hard to explain, I guess cause not a lot of people_ know_." Sen nodded, "It's even rarer to get an invite! So we_ got_ to go! It's not a party and it shouldn't go on too late! You so cannot back down now! Please say you'll come with me?"

Chizuru sighed, but smiled at her regardless. "So long as you promise we won't be out too late...then yes, I'll go with you."

Quickly and rather roughly, Sen pulled Chizuru to her and hugged her tightly. "Ohmigod, you so will not regret this!" She pulled back and squealed. "I'm going back to our room and picking out our outfits right now!"

"But don't you have—"

"Crap, what does one wear to this sort of thing...?" Sen tipped her head and pursed her lips briefly before her expression flipped back to the goofy and giddy smile. "Well, I'll figure it out. I'll see you back at the dorm!" With that, she pulled Chizuru into another huge hug before leaving.

Chizuru stared at her friend and shook her head slowly. It was getting harder to say no to her, but she knew Kazama would not be pleased if he knew. She pursed her lips in thought and her grip tightened on her backpack strap. He not only wouldn't be pleased, but he'd forbid her to go and do who knows what else.

She frowned at the thought. Already, she could easily hear him tell her in a stiff and curt tone tell her what a horrible idea this 'Underground' thing was. How Sen was not a good influence if she let her talk her into going and then he'd say something else about how her father wouldn't approve. It usually always floated back to her father.

Sure, she wasn't thrilled about going. Nor was she particularly excited to go, as Sen was, but that wasn't the point. Couldn't she tell Kazama something without him shooting her idea down? Couldn't he pretend to entertain it before he went off and told her how stupid it was? She always indulged him, even if the matter bored her to tears.

_So don't tell him._ Chizuru thought with absolute resolution.

And for some weird, unexplained reason, she didn't feel guilty about thinking that. Instead, she felt relieved.

* * *

"How did you say you got the invite again?"

Sen smiled over her shoulder, "Charm." She answered simply and shrugged. "Heard some frat guy talk about it and I managed to coax the location out of him. He said girls are more likely to get entrance than any others."

Chizuru bit her lip. That didn't sound reassuring. To her, it sounded like imposing. Showing up to a party you obviously weren't invited to. But what was this thing exactly? Absentmindedly, Chizuru started to fiddle with the hem of the pale yellow top Sen had forced her to wear. It wasn't hers, but Sen's shirt with a low cut neckline and stuck to her body like clothes shouldn't.

Unlike Sen, she didn't have quite the chest to fill out the top which made it slightly more modest than it would've looked on Sen. Persistently, she kept two out of the three small bottoms by breast area buttoned. There was no way she was going to show that much cleavage, much to Sen's dismay.

Quickly, Sen spun towards her and swatted her hands away from the shirt. "Stop that," she reprimanded, "If you keep messing with it, it'll keep rising upwards."

Chizuru sighed, "Okay, okay." She lifted her hands and instead hooked her thumbs into her jean pockets. At least, thankfully, Sen had allowed her to wear jeans. Granted they were the skinniest, form fitting ones she owned, but they were jeans regardless. She couldn't argue with that, considering how Sen had easily come to the conclusion to wear a short skirt the event. "What is this thing again?"

Sen raised an eyebrow, "I said it's hard to explain," She grabbed her cellphone and purse. "It's easier if you just see for yourself. I mean, I can't really even believe it."

"This doesn't sound very good, Sen." She told her, following her out of their room.

"Trust me. Do you trust me?"

"Of course, but—"

"No, buts!" Sen smiled brightly, "Now _hurry_ up!" Chizuru picked up her pace, slightly surprised to see how Sen moved so quickly and easily in wedged heels. Sure, they weren't too high but still...it was a feat in her eyes.

For nearly ten minutes they walked around to what Chizuru figured was aimless. Sen kept checking her phone, would hum in contemplation and then start moving again. At the time, they seemed to be the only ones around in the areas Sen was dragging her to, but finally they started to see others. Sen's face brightened when her eyes landed on one of the Agriculture buildings that was nearly on the edge of campus.

The building was domed, with a solar panel roof and large windows. The lights were off, but the students that were near them kept heading towards it. Hesitantly, Chizuru glanced at Sen with confusion. "It's in the Ag building?" she asked quietly.

Sen nodded, "That's what the guy said." She hooked her arm through Chizuru's and started to pull her towards the building. If they were the only ones around, she would've definitely objected. Probably have tried to suggest them going to the coffee shop to talk about each other or some nonsense. Chizuru even would've brought up her curiosity about Okita if it meant it would drag Sen away from the seemingly closed for the day Ag building.

"How is...how is everyone getting inside?" she asked again, her eyes turning to Sen. For a minute, the two watched as spurts of people walked towards the building, around the side and then, gone. The lights in the building not once turning on. No one came to open the front door, nothing.

"Maybe there's a side door?" asked Sen, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

With that said, Sen pulled her towards the building, following the same path they had previously watched the others go in. But there was no small door. What was there, was a window down at ground level that was large and wide, propped open by a brick with a hastily 'Welcome' sign taped to the front.

Sen stared at the window for what seemed like forever before she turned to Chizuru, a slightly sheepish expression on her face. "He didn't mention this part..." she mumbled, the tips of her cheeks turning pink.

Chizuru fought the discouraged sigh that wanted to escape and instead, gestured to the window. "Well, we're already here, aren't we?"

Sen gave her a grateful smile and nodded before she got down and started towards the window. It took a bit of shimmying and wiggling for Sen to gracefully enter with a skirt on, but she did it. When Chizuru tried, she huffed and puffed and was just about to give up trying to be graceful about it. She wasn't even sure how Sen had managed it.

The window was heavier than she thought, her shirt kept riding up her stomach being on ground level and all, and she couldn't get an idea of how far the drop from the window to the floor would be once she was in. Not to mention, Sen couldn't reach the window to keep it a loft, so it kept repeatedly hitting her backside.

Chizuru was just glad that no one was around to see it but Sen. She wiggled and heard a giggle on the other end. Chizuru rolled her eyes, half determined to just pull her self back up but she didn't get the choice before she felt hands circle her hips and gently pull her down.

Her breath was quick to leave her and just as easily she was set on her feet. A little dizziness and much confused, Chizuru stared up into unfamiliar amber colored eyes. They seemed to glow in dim lightening and she flinched, bumping into Sen behind her. The man was tall, about the same height as Okita and Kazama if not just a smidge or two taller.

He wore a black shirt that read 'Security' in bold white letters followed by a Greek Fraternity symbol, the shirt stretched over what looked to be a very fit body. His deep red was short and, for lack of a better word, silky looking. Overall, he was a handsome guy, especially with his eyes.

The security guy smiled and Chizuru found that she was staring, mouth open. Instantly ducked her head, "Uh, erm...thanks." She glanced anxiously at Sen who only smiled prettily. Seeing how she wasn't worried, she tried to force herself to relax but found it difficult to do so. Instead, she fixed her top and ducked her head again.

"You ladies lost?" he asked, voice deep but light. Teasing even.

Sen was quick to step towards him, "Not at all," She tipped her head to the side, "But we appreciate the concern."

The guy's smile didn't falter, but there was a sparkle in his amber eyes. Chizuru wasn't sure she understood it. "Any reason you two were climbing through the window?" he asked again.

Chizuru glanced at the window and noticed another guy was in the shadows of the room, removing the brick from the window and latching the lock. His deep blue eyes did the same in the dark as the others. In one quick motion, he pulled the sign from the window and crumbled it.

"Every fucking time, dude." He mumbled, shaking his head. Chizuru noticed that he also wore—what she assumed was once—a t-shirt, with the same words and symbol on it, but this shirt had no sleeves and instead showed off every muscle the guy could and would use as security.

She slide a nervous look over to Sen. What kind of event were they attending that needed Fraternity Security? She wanted to ask, but figured it was not the time or place. Sen pursed her lips dramatically.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice raising an octave higher. "Isn't that the entrance...?"

The red haired security exchanged looks with his blue eyed friend. The two then shared a quick laugh before he turned back to her. "Can I see your invite?" he asked and suddenly Chizuru understood what was going on.

Whatever the event was, they had just snuck into it. Or believed to have been. Sen crossed her arms, leveling him with a stare. "Is that a trick question?" she asked. Chizuru almost expected her to stomp her foot as well, but she didn't. "These types of events don't have invites!"

The one closest to Chizuru, Mr. Blue eyes, spoke up. "Wrong answer." He reached towards Chizuru and she flinched, but the touch wasn't hostile or forced. He raised his hand, "We're gonna need to escort you girls out."

The amber eyed guy nodded, "Sorry, ladies. Maybe next time?" He held his arm open and gestured to the door near them.

Sen stared, wide eyed and mouth opened. "What?" she asked and she shook her head. "No _way_! You've got to be joking!" She pointed at the window and this time did stomp her foot. Her wedge making a loud echo on the ground. "The window said welcome on it! We saw others do the same! And I just _climbed_ through that damned window in a _skirt _and _heels_!"

"Yeah, we watched you do it." Mr. Blue eyes gave her a coy look that had Sen blushing. Chizuru guessed she probably would've done something about the look, hadn't he also been pretty handsome and hadn't she been trying not to get kicked out. "but this shit happens every time. People who already got in, open a window to sneak others in. _Untrustworthy _people. It's a big mess."

Chizuru's eyes widened, "There _was_ an entrance?" she asked.

Amber eyes turned towards her, "Yup. It says so on the invite. If you got one."

Sen frowned and shot Chizuru an apologetic look, one that had Chizuru feeling sad for her. She had been so excited for it too. "We were invited, though. Really." She heard herself say.

The two stared at her expectantly and it was on the tip of her tongue to say that Okita invited her—despite his cold shoulder-ness earlier. It was going to raise questions, especially from Sen but it was for her. This was something that could work. After all, Okita had said it himself. '_You never know when it'll come in handy.'_

"O-okita invited me—_us_." She finally mumbled, gesturing to herself and Sen. She could feel her face start to burn and she hoped that it wasn't as noticeable in the dim settings of whatever room they were in. The two exchanged another look, disbelief? Uncertainty?

"Did he now?" asked blue eyes, his head tipped the side and she noticed he was wearing a green bandanna. Not that he needed to with his short cropped hair.

She nodded, "Yeah. We have first period together, he sits next to me." Chizuru resisted the urge to fiddle with her fingers, or shirt. She didn't need them to keep doubting her. Sen instantly caught on and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he did." She wrapped an arm around her with utter confidence. "Why don't you just check with him and ask if you don't believe us? He's in the same fraternity, isn't he?"

The two exchanged a look again, before their eyes glanced and lingered on Chizuru. Blue eyes opened his mouth, but the door near them burst open. "Shinpachi, Sanosuke! What the fuck are you guys—" The voice trailed off as familiar blue eyes landed on them. It was Heisuke, the guy from about a week ago who approached her and asked if she was Chizuru. He smiled brightly and knowingly at them, "Hey!"

Blue eyes turned and scowled, "You know them, runt?" he asked.

"Heisuke, darling!" Sen cooed in a voice that was sugary sweet and sappy. Chizuru automatically felt her lips start to pull into a smile. It was almost comical how Heisuke's face turned red with her endearment. "Of _course_ he knows us." She added, quickly tugging Chizuru with her as they bounced over to him. She placed a hand lightly on his shoulder and leaned in towards him, flashing her wide and megawatt smile at the guys.

Amber eyes smiled, his shoulders shaking lightly as if he was trying hard not to laugh. "Can you vouch for them, Heisuke you stud?" he crossed his arms, his eyes bounced over to Chizuru briefly. "She says she's friends with Okita...?"

Heisuke nodded, "She sure is." He glanced at her and winked, causing her to blush. Did he actually know Okita? And if so, did that mean he knew the truth? Why didn't he just throw them under the bus? "You guys are too serious...they're girls." He leaned towards them and lowered his voice, but it didn't stop them from overhearing him. "_Hott_ girls, douches. What the _hell_ are they going to do?!"

Blue eyes rolled his eyes and shook his head, "See right there? That's your problem, _freshman_." he pointed at him, "You _assume_ and make an _ass_ out of yourself."

Heisuke rolled his eyes, "Fuck you, Shinpachi."

Chizuru noticed blue eyes, Shinpachi, narrow his eyes to glare down at Heisuke who didn't seem at all phased by the look. She snuck a peek at Sen who simply stood by, not at all perturbed and then glanced at Amber eyes. He shook his head slowly, giving them both a sympathetic look.

"Children, come on now." He gestured to them, "Heisuke, take the girls to the arena. Shinpachi, come on. We have other rooms to clear."

Shinpachi grimaced and shrugged, "Do you always have to do that, Sanosuke?"

With that, the two exited the room. Heisuke waited until they were gone before he turned and smiled at Chizuru and Sen. "This way ladies." He lead them out of the room and down the hall. Chizuru hadn't taken the tour of the Ag building, specifically because she didn't have any classes there. She remembered reading about it, but that was about it. They were obviously in the lower part of the building, since it was all cement with no windows.

Heisuke lead them up a short set of stairs, down another long windowless hallway, down another small set of stairs before Chizuru and Sen started to hear anything. They stopped right outside a pair of double doors that were barely muffling the sounds from the inside. Heisuke smirked at them knowingly.

"First time, right?" he asked, eyes sparkling with an untold secret. Chizuru felt herself nod rather than say something. What was there to say, really? "Next time, don't sneak into any windows. There's always one door that's unlocked for such purposes."

Sen nodded furiously—confident that there would be 'another time.' Chizuru wasn't so sure. Her mind was reeling with the possibility of what was going on. Heisuke grinned and pushed open the double doors, the noise washing over them that Chizuru resisted the urge to throw her hands over her ears to block the sound.

What was a dull roar, was now full blast as thousands of voices mingled among one another while music blasted over that. It was like a rock concert, minus the band and front stage. Heisuke picked up Chizuru's hand and placed it on his shoulder, then gestured to Sen to do the same. "Hang on." He told her and began to weave them through the multiple bodies.

It was a good thing Chizuru wasn't claustrophobic, because that would've set her off—not that it wasn't now. One could hardly breath properly, hardly stand without getting pushed or bumped into, and could hardly think with all the noise. Sen's grip tightened on her shoulder and she felt her move closer.

"Isn't this _something_?" she shouted with glee and wonder.

Chizuru still wasn't so sure. Already she felt like her shirt was sticking to her skin like a hot summer day, sweat was beading on her forehead and she wanted to rush back to the chill September night. Finally Heisuke stopped and gestured to one of the few available chairs in the area. The spot was rather close to the makeshift stage—assuming that's what it was.

It was a circular raised stone in the center of the room, flat and big enough to fit two people easily but not really good for a band. Chizuru didn't see any instruments or equipment that usually belonged to such events. Not to mention how the crowd was circled around the makeshift stage. It wouldn't make sense for that kind of event.

Her eyes skipped over to the many faces, a few wore colors or symbols of their school or frats. There were girls scattered about, dressed scantily or colorful. Sen's outfit was at least tasteful. Chizuru's eyes immediately zoned in on a few guys across the circle from them, their colors and school Crest on the front of their shirts. _Choshu._ They were well-known rivals to their school.

"What are they doing here...?" she mumbled, eyebrows pinching slightly.

Sen leaned towards her, "Right in the front! Can you believe it?!" she squealed and it got lost among all the other noises that bounced around.

It was hard for Chizuru to stay seated and wait to see what all the fuss was about. For one thing, all the others that were forced to stand and stay that way kept bumping into them that she almost got to feet to wait instead, but Heisuke was quick to come to their aid. Cursing and waving his fists around to get the rowdy guys behind them to quit. The other thing was how anxious she was.

She kept her eyes open for any sign of Okita, or goodness forbid, Kazama. He'd definitely not approve of all this and she didn't want to have to explain herself and why she hadn't even bothered to let him know. No, she'd much rather face Okita and his possible cold shoulder. Maybe she'd get to explain herself to him...

The overhead lights flickered and all talks instantly morphed into loud hoots and hollers. This time, Chizuru did cover her ears but only because it seemed like the few behind them were shouting right in their ears. Sen reached over and squeezed her hand in an excited way before she popped up and joined in all the yelling.

Heisuke turned towards them and grinned widely, "Show time."

Rather suddenly, Chizuru felt nervous and she stayed glued to her seat despite everyone around her. She just needed to get her baring first. Needed to relax, clear her mind. It couldn't possibly be as bad as her imagination was leading her to believe. She was overreacting, definitely.

A random faced student walked to the center of the circle and started shouting into a megaphone that occasionally shrieked and sent goosebumps up and down Chizuru's arms. But it was hard to make out what he was trying to say, even with the help of the microphone.

"Welcome, civilians to the Underground. All bets are done," he shouted, his voice distorted and warbled. "Got that, punks! We don't deal with that shit and won't take it. No cheats! Remember the exits, remember to pick up your shit afterwards, remember the number 1 rule to fucking fight club!" The microphone squealed and Heisuke grimaced.

"Piece of shit microphone," he grumbled, shaking his head.

"We _don't_ talk about fight club!" he shouted just as half the student body did. "Now without further ado, let's bring the boys out, shall we?"

And that was when Chizuru spotted Okita. It seemed weird, but the seconds before she noticed him, she _felt_ his stare first. It seemed horribly cliche to say, but it was heated and almost...yearning for her to turn her head. And when she did, there he was. Staring right back at her. His green eyes vivid and bright even from the distance. Okita smirked knowingly and she fought her reaction, but the blush graced her face regardless.

That was when she noticed his attire. Shorts,_ just_ shorts. Bare chest that rippled and dipped with muscles she suspected he had. His hands up to his forearms were wrapped in neatly and spotless white medical tape. She watched as he started to jump in place, shaking his arms to get the muscles warmed up before he started to punch and knee the air in front of him.

Chizuru's heart sank and she felt suddenly short of breath. She turned to Sen who was bouncing up and down on her toes. "This...this is a fight, isn't it?" she asked and Sen turned towards her.

"Yeah," she didn't seem to notice the distress in her expression. "It's all the rage here. Underground fighting. Cool, huh?"

And there went the rest of breathe. Yeah, it was worse than her imagination.

* * *

**A/n: Wonderful, wonderful reviews! Thank you so, so much! Please, keep it up! Like always, love hearing your thoughts. They fuel me endlessly! :) Hope you enjoyed! Things are just getting started! **


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